joyful gratitude

Curious horses

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #10

On January 2nd, Paolo and I went for a lovely hike in the outskirts of Rome, towards Guadagnolo. It was a great way to start the new year by spending some time outdoors, and despite being a grey day it was a beautiful walk.

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We didn’t meet one single person during our hike, but we did come across quite a few wild horses. Some of them stood boldly on the path, and others were half hidden and peeking out at us from behind the bushes, waiting to see what we would do. before they retreated up the slope of the hill.
img_4764This other family of horses came down the mountainside directly towards us. They initially ‘pretended’ to follow the road in the opposite direction to where we were walking, only to start following us as soon as we had our back turned.

The baby horse couldn’t contain his curiosity and came right up to where I stood. For a few seconds he looked at me and sniffed me a few times before continuing on his way.  A very magical moment:)

Colourful recycled envelopes

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE # 9

In the last few years, I’ve been encouraging my family to prefer ‘experience’ gifts over material gifts for Christmas and birthdays. The idea is catching on, and this year almost every gift I gave my family was for an experience of some kind, usually in the form of a card and a voucher. I wanted some original envelopes to present them in, so I gathered some cool pictures from old magazines and with simple washi tape made these colourful recycled envelopes.

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Festive blooms

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #8

Christmas cactus season is upon us again! Every year in December my Christmas cactuses start growing pink buds on the end of their leaves that grow slightly bigger each day…  Then, usually just before Christmas, the flower blooms wildly, spreading its petals in all directions for a few days of extravagant beauty. It’s a nice touch of colour in these short winter days:)

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Fun dinner

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #7

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Seeing this pile of freshly washed dishes and glasses on the kitchen counter makes me happy. Not because it means I’m done with cleaning the dishes, but because they were made dirty in the occasion of a fun dinner with friends to celebrate Paolo’s birthday.

It was a pleasure to share this meal surrounded by easy-going and interesting people from all over the world … and to laugh a lot! 🙂

Cycling in the mornings

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #6

These days cycling to work every morning involves leaving home in the dark and feeling that despite wearing thick gloves the cold may cause my finger tips to fall off. The first 5 minutes are usually the worst because I haven’t warmed up yet from the cycling and I find myself wondering if I just should have taken the tram instead.

Lately however I’ve been trying to turn my thoughts around and appreciate the luxury of being able to ride to work by bike which is one of the perks of life in Amsterdam. I really enjoy being outdoors and moving my body for a half-hour before spending most of the day behind the computer. Also, I’m very lucky that to get to the office I ride through the beautiful center of Amsterdam. And when the sun decides to comes up, the peaceful canal views are really spectacular!

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Indie bookstore love

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #5

20161125_151330I’m really grateful to have discovered the wonderful independent bookstore  Gogol & Company while I was visiting Milan last weekend. It’s the kind of place where you are greeted with a warm ‘Buongiorno!’ when you walk in, and you can hang out as long as you want on the comfy sofas and read the books, no questions asked.

It was the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon by myself with no other place to rush off to… I really enjoyed just chilling, checking out their wonderful selection of books, soaking in the laid-back atmosphere and sampling their tasty food and coffee. Those few quiet hours left me feeling both deeply relaxed and energised:)

 

 

Team spirit

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #4

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We had a lovely team day with my colleagues to plan our activities for next year (and enjoy some energisers;). I had a really fun time and I’m so grateful for having such open-minded colleagues, with their creative ideas, constructive feedback and most importantly their great sense of humour!   We were lucky to enjoy this spectacular sunset in the Westerpark as the perfect end to our day:)

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Thanks a lot to Michaela A. for this pic of Eva and I being silly in the sunset!

Delicious warm soup

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #3

In these cold autumn days, I love taking the time to make healthy vegetable soup. Peeling and chopping the vegetables is like a form of meditation for me. Last weekend, I enjoyed a cosy evening of chatting with loved ones over a warm bowl of pumpkin soup and toasted bread and cheese. Mmmmmm!

Autumn colours

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #2

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I think autumn colours were created just to distract us from the fact that the days are getting shorter and it’s colder and rainier outside. I love seeing how the leaves change colour!

Those red leaves are real!! I admired them in the Japanese garden in the Leiden botanical garden last weekend. Imagine if that species of tree were planted all around our cities:) It would be so beautiful in November! I think urban planners should consider such things… maybe an alternative career plan;)

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Watching the sunrise

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #1

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Stopping what I was doing to watch the sunrise (even if it was from the windy rooftop of our office building after making early morning calls to clients Down Under)

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