Year 2011

I hope 2012 is being very good to all of you so far!

Here is an attempt to recap what 2011 was like - maybe a little late, but why not? :) Now that I think of it - 2011 was truly a year of change and lots of exciting moments, revelations and accomplishments. And you have no idea how much your comments and visiting my blog mean to me. Thank you for encouraging me last year! Here are some highlights from 2011 which you may recall and also some which I didn't really post about.

SO... LAST YEAR I:

1. ...celebrated Christmas and New Year in India. Definitely an unforgettable experience - having a proper New Year's Eve party in a tropical palm grove with proper Christmas lights, mojitos, a swimming pool and freshly opened coconuts :)



2. ...had a chance to see elephants and leopards in the wild and even live among them in the jungle in Sri Lanka where we went straight after New Year's celebrations.



3. ...went to Maldives - my dream destination of many years :). The biggest highlight was diving about 25 metres deep and seeing 2 stingrays 'flying' by like birds. Seeing sharks completely uninterested in you was pretty awesome too.



4. ...lay awake through my knee surgery. I was curious to experience this. It kind of gave me things to think about through the painful days afterwards.



5. ...reinvented my Tumblr.



6. ...spent Easter back at home in Belarus, which is lovely in spring..



6. ...discovered Berlin as a true city for young people, young artists and art appreciators.



7. ...went all around Iceland by car with a group of 7 friends. Seeing whales, bathing in termal spas surrounded by lava fields and going in a boat on a glacier lake full of icebergs are just 3 tiny reasons to visit this amazing island - there are many more!



8. ...visited Athens, but most importantly spent a 'pre-honeymoon' on Greek islands, which I'm yet to post more about, I promise! Those Milos beaches accesible only from water, Santorini volcano and non-stop parties on Mykonos are great highlights of the Cyklades.







9. ...got married! Which was the most emotional day of my life.



10. ...moved from Gdansk to London to live and found a new job.





11. ...celebrated my pet's birthday :)))) Ralph is 4!



12. ...celebrated Halloween - haha, this is the influence of living in the UK :)



13. ...celebrated my birthday for the first time in 7 years ;). (actually celebrated lots of other great things as well)

14. ...went to see Tchaikovsky's 'The Sleeping Beauty' performed by Royal Ballet. Totally amazing!



15. ...had the most beautiful Christmas tree of all times!



16. ... and finally switched from PC to Mac :))).



The year 2011 was a pretty amazing year for me. Hopefully 2012 turns out somewhat similar! Have a really exciting year ahead!

photos by Olga and Arek except for the top and the bottom ones

Ok, I Thought I Won't Do Resolutions This Year :)

But :) When I saw these I quite liked them because I haven't felt particularly creative last year. It's hard to stay creative while your work has very little to do with creativity. And the amount of time I spend at work - although luckily now it is 1 hr a day less than in Gdansk :) - is still too long and leaves me lazy and inspirationless at times.





Oh, and my other resolution is of course to blog more. I've really missed it and was lousy at it in 2011 :(. How come that 24hrs a day is never enough for me??

via Loose Threads

Back To Cool

It's always weird to come back after a long silence - it's like discovering a completely new territory all over again... even though I do realize this is my good old blog :) - it's still a little strange to write all this. Well - if this is a valid excuse for not writing too much (or rather at all..) - I've been busy this summer. Summers are usually busiest for me - not much time to blog at all :(. But I also truly believe you need to have the right state of mind in order to produce anything meaningful to publish on your blog - and also the right weather to do so. For me the colder - the better it seems ;).

If I think of it, before my last post on this blog I was still happily living in Gdansk, happily unmarried, happily working for the same company for the Xth year... And then the time came to change it all, so now it's 'good bye happy Gdansk' - 'hello happy London'. Actually I need to see whether London is happy. I'm curious.

Then we also got married this summer. I can tell you one thing: the person who never wanted to marry, cried of emotion on her wedding day. It was a great day and a great feeling :).

I also needed to find another job... and though I still haven't decided about which one to take, looking for a job was a very refreshing and rewarding experience. I learned one needs to go through this experience once in a couple of years - the adrenaline makes you suddenly more agile and motivated to learn something totally new. And you realize how many opportunities you were missing while working comfortably at the same place! And then probably the best part is when you get these job offers and you have that feeling that finally it's you who is getting to choose, instead of being chosen. There is also the pain of making that choice involved of course, but hey, who has ever complained of having options?

Apart from all these boring things I still have loads of travel- (and not only) photos to share - from Berlin, Athens, Greek islands, etc. Can't wait to do that. I think I need a blogging vacation - read: vacation when I can just blog!

Well, enough about me. I wanted to thank you all - for dropping by and saying 'hello' and sharing comments, thoughts and for your e-mails. I wish I was more responsive - most of my blogging time was consumed by job search - but it was great to hear from you!

Recently I can't get enough of this blog - you definitely need to check it out - just go inside the posts - as more images are hidden there. This blog is written by a Russian roofer. You could define 'roofing' as a sort of industrial tourism where illegal climbing of roofs, bridges, metro, towers and other constructions is involved. This blog is a chronicle of him climbing the famous and infamous roofs and taking all of these breathtaking pictures - being and not being caught. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Russian speakers - don't mind the word on the last pic :)


































all images by Raskalov. Cities photographed: Saint Peter's, Minsk, Vyborg and Moscow

March On My Tumblr

Have you yet had a chance to check out my Tumblr?. Below are the snapshots of images from March - hopefully you feel inspired :).


photos by Olga

@ @ @ STATISTICS? @ @ @

...The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.

But...

I thought it would be interesting to make a list of posts, which attracted most of attention and were most frequently clicked/visited/read/watched/listened (and hopefully enjoyed) by you. So here it comes... Any feedback is very welcome and will be much appreciated - after all only you can confirm whether these stats lie or tell the truth.

10. Orient Express



9. Salvador Dali's Alice in Wonderland



8. Islamic Design



7. The Dreamers



6. Out Of My Tree



5. Józef K



4. Le Refuge des Fondus



3. Has Anyone Seen A Tree Here?..



2. Art Nouveau Triumphs!



1. Tree Art