Happy 2016 and new year's resolutions

Happy new year!

I'm sorry this blog has been deserted for so many months, but my life has been more busy than I would have liked. So I  chose to take time off from blogging. Spending my spare moments with family and friends seemed more purposeful than spending it behind screen.


What have I been up to?
I took an entrepreneurship course. It was a full-time course that lasted for 2.5 months.
At the same time I studied full time computer science.
I spent 2.5 weeks in Thailand.
I had all my health examinations re-taken. It took additional 2 weeks from my life, since I'm not supposed to take medicine while examinations and I'm not able to function at all while not on medication.
I spent Christmas with my family, cooking, talking and taking long walks.

Now I'm only studying for my exams, so I feel like I have all the time and energy in the world.

I took 2 resolutions for this year.
1. be a better person. This is a hard one, since it's so general, but it's also so important. I want to be a better partner for my Love, be a better friend, better daughter and sister. I try to stick more to my principles and to be more ethical.

2. spend less. Since I don't have a job and I wan't to finish my studies before finding a job, I feel extremely guilty when ever I spend money. I'm going to be more frugal so I wouldn't be burden to my family (and manage my guilt).

Of course I would like to meditate more, take photography more serious, spend more time on Coursera, read more, and so on.. but I do understand that the truly important thing is to be good to my loved ones.

One photo I took while in Thailand. Statues of Buddha in a hilltop temple.

I would be honoured if You would share your personal resolutions

Some photo sites I like

I spent at least an hour looking online photo pages this morning.
Serene places, happy people, beautiful food. It really picks up my mood to sometimes get lost in thoughts and look beautiful photos.
So I'm sharing some of my favorites from this morning. Maybe it will pick you up as well.

There are so many good photographers and image sites online (and so many of them are free to use so I can show them here:)

My favorite is as usual Unsplash. It just matches my style and idea of beauty.

My favorite food photos come from FoodiesFeed

hungry yet? :)



Last favorite today is  http://magdeleine.co/ and a few travel/nature-style shots.

...did I mention I really like photography and spending time enjoying it?

where happiness comes from

I was wondering what makes me happy while I was cleaning my late grandma's house.

And I found that

happiness comes from cuddling with my Love
from eating home-grown strawberries with my mom
from long walks with my dog
from making someone smiling or laughing
from doing nice little things for others
from travelling
from doing something I thought I wasn't able to do
from achievements
from getting better after being sick
from kind words from someone
from a call or a mail from a friend
from finishing a chore and getting some rest afterwards, knowing that all that needed to be done is done.
from a sunny day after some bad weather
from first snow
from seeing baby animals!
from snorkeling
from being in nature
from being in beautiful surroundings
from dancing to music

And from thinking about the things that make me happy.

writing down this list, made me smile for the whole time :)