Pan antiques and art fair is on in Amsterdam RAI this week. Pan is an annually recurring art, design and antiques fair. I went last night for a VIP borrel and I greatly enjoyed strolling around the different stands from all of the art galleries around Amsterdam. Personally I love a more modern art approach and I found quite a few beautiful pieces, but unfortunately the price didn’t quite match my wallet?!!
Tomorrow Amsterdam Light Festival also kicks off. It’s one of the most beautiful events I’ve seen in any city in the world I’ve visited. All around Amsterdam, primarily on the canals, there are art installations around the theme of light. This year’s theme is Water Colors, and if you find yourself in Amsterdam take a long walk in the evening around the Amsterdam Light Festival route, the walk usually takes an hour or two! Below are a few pictures from last years festival.
In the meantime wonderfuls have a relaxing weekend and give a kiss or hug to your loved ones?!
After a couple of weeks of hectic work and traveling I have been back on my gym routine the past few days. I did a heavy session by myself on Sunday, followed by a cardio class, BodyShape, and finished off with a Body Pump yesterday. Personally I love the classes because you can get an all round training you wouldn’t otherwise get
The past few days I’ve been feeling a bit low and stressed for both personal and work reasons, and training is truly like a drug. After just a few sessions I feel all my stress and worry disappear.
I also felt I’ve been slipping with my healthy eating lately so I whipped up a aubergine parmigiana for me and my love! Isn’t it fantastic to have a date night on just an average Tuesday evening!
My recent health kick has naturally also had the effect that my ”passion for fashion” has been rekindled due to the very simple fact, I can wear whatever I want!
As Amy Winehouse sang…back to black is the overarching mantra of my closet. Below are a few of these past few weeks work outfits! Amusingly enough I’ve realized that because black is such a wearable color in Stockholm, I’d even venture to say it’s sort of a Stockholm uniform, I never realized exactly how much black I truly wear until I left Stockholm.
Below is today’s outfit, black dress from COS bought probably a year or so ago, paired with a pair of black shoes from Pasito in Zug. The Pasito shoes were an emergency purchase because my heels broke on the way to the office and no replacement shoes in my bag?!!
Next outfit up is the classic black dress pants from Kenzo, found them in a store called Centre Neuf in Amsterdam teamed up with a simple soft black turtleneck. Centre Neuf is unfortunately closing, but it’s truly one of my favorite stores in Amsterdam! This particular turtleneck is from Maruschka de Margot in Stockholm. Maruschka is an almost iconic store in Stockholm, filled with voluptuous furs, exclusive evening dresses and some of the best designers. Your wallet may take a hit so be forewarned?.
Laundry Industry is a Dutch brand that unfortunately no longer exists…but I just put below outfit in to prove I don’t ONLY wear black…on occasion I will branch out into the greys…
And the last outfit of the week, casual black boot cut jeans from Urban Outfitters. I found them in Austin Texas year ago, and I teamed them up with a silk blouse from MQ I found in Stockholm on my latest trip. Ok enough of the overload of selfies, but I do enjoy waking up in the morning and spending a relaxed morning with coffee getting ready for what the office has in store for the day!
If you’re also like me addicted to designer wear, whatever you do check out the Outnet! Quick delivery and great clothes at reasonable prices. Their app is great, and a fantastic selection of brands!
Stay fashionable out there?!
This weekend my lovely and I decided to stay put in Zug for the weekend, and enjoy a sunny weekend in the mountains. The weather here has also been amazing in the past few weeks, completely out of this world! Ski season really haven’t started yet and instead the summer sun has stayed around. Honest truth though, despite living here I never ski…on Sunday though I finally made it up Zugerberg on a rather sweaty but gorgeous hike! Check out the pictures below. Absolutely fantastic! The mountain is something around 1000 meters so the hike isn’t too challenging. Once you’re up there you can stop at the restaurant, before taking the ”bahn” down again.
Apart from the hiking we also checked out the wining and dining situation in Zug and Zürich. On Friday we ventured to the Sky Lounge in Zug. This is a rooftop terrace with a view of the whole of Zug. I’ve always had a weakness for rooftop bars. With the view below…it’s hard not to fall in love with life all over again! We rounded off Friday with hitting Bären Restaurant in Zug and indulging in some fondue, after all now is the season. Bären was above and beyond my expectation, live music, nice food and classic Swiss interior. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a pic, but it was great!
sky lounge view
evening view from sky lounge
Saturday was spent in Zürich. My favorite area of Zürich is probably Seefeld and we decided to pop by again a favorite spot called Schiller Bar. We had the sample menu for two for lunch…yumyumyum as always! WHat I love with Schiller when I was living just around the corner from them is that you can pop into Schiller any time of the day. It’s an equally perfect spot for a quick coffee in the morning as for a very late night drink. If you’re in the Seefeld area I can also recommend having dinner at Terrasse, a true institution in Zürich. If you on the other hand want to go over to the other side of the lake and the Sihlpost area I’d recommend trying out Helvetia Hotel and Restaurant. They have a great little terrace outside that you can sit in even during the winter, their Sunday brunch is legendary and the atmosphere is wonderful!
sample menu at brasserie schiller
brasserie schiller
All in all Zürich and Zug after fantastic places, I’m such a lucky person to have the chance to spend time in these places. If you’re thinking of visiting though…be-warned…the beauty does come with a pretty hefty price tag. Zürich is not the cheapest city to visit?.
sunset on Zugersee
This past weekend I’ve been back to home base Stockholm and it hits me every time…how different life is now than when I left four years ago…
Back then I was yearning for confirmation and admiration. I wanted to please everyone and have a perfect life. Which I think from the outside I had but the challenges of generation Y, we’re never really truly content with everything we have, we need a purpose. I feared making a mistake, fighting with friends or losing my job. You could say I was very status driven…
And then one day I packed my bags and had to face my fears head on. My first night in Amsterdam, in a messy apartment with all my furniture and not a sole in the whole country to talk to because I knew no one, I knew I had made the right decision. Because the first thought that came to mind was that no one knows me here so no one can say whether I was right or wrong and no one here to confirm what I did. It was a fantastically liberating thing! I had the chance to create a whole new destiny for myself. Not that the one I had in Sweden was a bad one, but I got an incredible energy from trying something new.Trust me, things didn’t pan out the way I expected them to. I moved to yet another country, changed jobs, met a man, lost and gained friends and above all have taken a few blows but all in all its been the best years of my life!
A tip though whatever you do get to know the locals whichever way you can, don’t just stay in the expat community because this local knowledge can really broaden your horizon…and whatever you do learn the language! For me it was the biggest mental block, and now feeling I command both Dutch and German is extremely empowering. Seeking confirmation, it really does give you a bit of street cred with the locals.
I still struggle with just doing what I want and not really thinking too much about what other people think…but I’m a few steps forward. If there’s anything I can share with anyone else is, the move abroad really isn’t too hard, it’s purely a mental ghost, being in a strange environment is what’s hard and you have to be humble to this new environment and the people, and above all do what you want without worrying of this is what’s perceived by others as the right thing to do. ????
work ready this week!
Beautiful Zug Skyline
You who have read the blog have followed my journey of losing quite some weight and staying healthy while at the same time one of my life passions is trying new cuisines and restaurants all over the world. So how do I manage to stick to losing weight while doing this. Well I’ve come into a very good healthy of always choosing to indulge when I really want to and during the week I generally stay very lean and mean, no sweets, alcohol, unnecessary fatties and excessive portions. Honestly one of the biggest aha moments for me was portion control through my dietician Esther. She taught me only to truly eat 300-500 kacl per meal…I was probably hitting 750+ kacl without even realizing it!
Training!!!
Training both gives you a mental boost AND a metabolic boost. Something we call in business win-win?. My favorite exercise routine is definitely pimping weight, but my personal trainer Richard also taught me to get a few intervals in there to keep the fat burning for days! Usually I either start or finish my workout with 8X20 seconds intervals on a still treadmill. Having to push the treadmill yourself really kicks your cardio into gear, and best of all I’m not a runner so this is a very short but effective cardio workout!
Usually I try to get 3-4 workouts in a week…sometimes that doesn’t succeed but if it doesn’t I won’t beat myself up about it! Below is a 5 am jet lag workout with a view of New York at the Standard!
Make use of the jet lag and workout early on the other side of the pond
Food!!!
This is something I think I’ve already told you about. My diet only consists of around 1250kacl a day, so I truly need to keep it slim during the week. I am officially an expert on low calorie options for breakfast, lunch and dinner! One of my best friends is also my calorie counter app! I would really recommend downloading one. Going to my dietician every months ensures I keep on track…after all my competitive nature stops me from weighing in gaining weight month to month!
Results!!!
So how did my last week look? Well mostly pretty healthy. Most of the week I was on Zug and quickly threw together some type of salad or protein/veggie wok every night. Wednesday offered a simple salad with smoked fish, raw vegetables and a little bit of olive oil dressing. During the week I never spend more than half an hour to make dinner!
Simple everyday dinner
Once the weekend drew nearer I headed out for date night at a new restaurant in Amsterdam, French Connection. One word, amazing!! They serve up small dishes so you can order three or four per person and it’s also sharing concept. I think this is a true date night restaurant and the food was solidly inspired by the traditional French kitchen with a twist. My personal favorite was the amuse bouche surprise olive and the brioche with cheese was dreamy!
French Connection
Friday started off with dinner with one of my best friends at Amsterdams best Vietnamese according to me, O Mai! Menu is simple, very kind on your wallet and always fresh. They only have a selection of one wine so if I could have a say…perhaps extend it?! Whatever you do, don’t forget to try a Vietnamese coffee if you haven’t already!
raw beef salad from O Mai
vietnamese coffee
Of course I finished off the week with a relaxed Saturday brunch with my better half….this time some fresh bread with a pesto kale salad and turkey.
healthy brunch
Tonight I’m off for a mani and pedi to get my nail game on??. Speak later friends!
Yesterday I ventured to Izakaya in Amsterdam to try out their Sunday brunch. This is a concept they only do on an ad-hoc basis so securing a reservation wasn’t easy but my love and I finally did and boy am I happy I went! The afternoon starts out like a regular brunch, and the Izakaya kitchen serves up a feast of small Japanese dishes just like their regular menu…but as the afternoon unfolds live acts come out on stage and brings up the heat quite a bit and after three hours the roof was lifting and the music was beating. Below are some pictures from both the menu and entertainment! They also served Veuve Clicquots new champagne specifically targeted to a citrusy slightly sweeter pre-dinner drink!
Veuve Clicquot started the party!
Asian deliciousness
Some afternoon wine went down as well☺️
Live performances
Night club action at 3 pm in the afternoon
Despite the fantastic weekend I’m still feeling a bit under the weather though and I don’t know if it’s from general life/work stress or if there’s some bug just refusing to leave my body. Either way I’ve committed to myself to taking it a bit easy the next couple of weeks. After this upcoming weekends havoc in Stockholm I’m going to just relax with a wonderful weekend on the Zugersee. Nothing cures a little low energy like the mountain air. More updates to follow my friends!
The past few weeks I’ve been feeling less than energized. Some family problems, slow month in the office and a dragged out cold…so yesterday I was supposed to summarize how my year has been at work and I decided to pick myself right out of this miserable mood!!
Not only did I finish my evaluation, but I have myself a pat on the back for managing to almost learn a new language this year, lost 15kg of weight, start a new job and staying happy with my love at the same time!!
Have a fantastic Thursday and to celebrate I even posted a selfie of myself on Instagram! #todayifeelbeautiful
By the way…also got to show of my new gooooorgeous Kenzo pants! ❤️
Every year since I met my love I’ve taken him on a surprise birthday trip for his birthday…well it has seldom turned out to be a surprise exactly because I can’t keep a secret from him but all in all I think he’s loved all our trips. This year the trip went to Rome.We started off the celebrations on Thursday with a surprise birthday party (and yes this was definitely a surprise) with all of his friends, and then on Friday we flew off to a long weekend in Rome! Of course as many things in my life the trip revolved around some good food! I was weight wise in very good shape on Friday so I decided to truly enjoy a relaxed weekend in Rome and not worry too much about my next weigh in at Esther’s in a couple of weeks time. As icing on the cake I managed to lose my voice at the birthday party the night before so I spent two days without any voice in Rome!!? I did managed to kick off Saturday morning with a strong Italian coffee and a Sicilian Cannoli!!
Sicilian cannoli
For authentic Italian cuisine in a classic trattoria setting go to Costanza in Trastevere. The food was out of this world, it was so good I even forgot to take a picture! I indulged in truffle pasta and a saltimbocca! Trastevere is probably one of my favorite areas and despite being a bit touristy there are an abundance of lovely restaurants to chose from.
On Saturday we first had a lovely lunch just off Fontana Di Trevi at a little place called Chianti. I went for a simple cold cuts and radicchio salad…and yes we also managed to consume two bottles of wine??. Then we strolled around Via de Babuino down towards Piazza del Popolo. I managed to find the one and only thing I was in search of in Rome…a pair of black boots for the winter!
Post the shopping we sat down for some of the most expensive drinks in Rome at Hotel de Russie. The drinks may be 22€ a pop but again I have to admit the atmosphere sort of makes it worth it! Only downside to our Saturday was the dinner restaurant which my Italian colleague had actually recommended. It was called Trattoria Settimio all’Arancio. The carbonara was burnt and the service was lousy. We even sent back our food and the waiter refused to accept it at first. I’m not a person known for sending back my food, it probably happens once every five years so then appreciate how bad the food was! Whatever you do in Rome don’t go there!!
Sunday lunch however brought up the mood, and lunch was enjoyed at Casina Valadier with a stunning view of all of Rome. We first rented a scooter and drove to Colosseum and the Vatican but after some culture Saturday lunch was repeated in a different setting?. The restaurant is set in the outskirts of Villa Borghese so a leisurely stroll through the park can also be recommended. I went for some mozzarella dumplings and fried calamari and prawns.
fried mozzarella dumplings
Rome skyline
Taking charge of the vespa!
Colosseum
Pantheon
Of course there are a million other places in Rome to go and as long as you’re with someone you love you can’t go wrong! ??+❤️=??
I’m spending my weekend in Rome celebrating my loves birthday. Since we met I’ve started the tradition that we go for a weekend trip every year for his birthday. The first couple of years sported Paris and Barcelona and now the turn has come to Rome. I only have time for a short update but our first day has been spent walking through Trevi, down to Piazza Navina and over to Trastevere and there’s only one word for Rome…food! I’m seriously torn whether the spaniards or the Romans have the upper hand. What I do know is that after my afternoon massage I’ll be enjoying an Aperol on a piazza!
