Hoodie

What made me happy today? Hoodie!
Ah, it's fall. The leaves are changing colour, there's more rain, the mornings are colder. Which means it's time to break out the hoodies again! I love hoodies! They're warm, comfortable, make me happy and are just awesome.
I usually change into one after I get home :-)

This is my favorite hoodie:

And hoodies are great in situations like this! I was eating a sandwich while on vacation in the Ardennes. BF managed to get a hold of my iPod and started annoying me with it. I used my hoodie to hide :-)

"Stop taking pictures of me!"

"No? Okay, well, then I'll hide!"

Grandma's cold remedy!

What made me happy today? Grandma's cold remedy!
I woke up with a sore throat this morning. At first I thought it was because I talked a lot at the BBQ or weekly Vampire game. But by now, my nose is all blocked and I feel like my head is clogged.
So tonight, before I go to sleep I'll be using my grandmother's cold remedy. My mom used to give it to us when we were little and it really helps! Basically, you squeeze two oranges and a lemon. Pour the juice in a cup, add some water that just stopped boiling to fill the cup and drink up. Then, straight to bed. in the morning you'll feel a lot better!
So here's to your good health! Bottom's up :-)

You're hot and you're cold

What made me happy today? Cold pack!
So, last week I tore a muscle in my shoulder / clavicle. It seemed to be better until, on Saturday, I decided to carry all my groceries up the stairs in one go. Bad move. And today it's particularly bad. Good thing I always have a cold pack in my freezer, and a tube of Voltaren gel in my medicine cabinet.
So here's to Albert A. Robbins, who invented the cold pack. Thanks dude!
(sorry for the short post, but it's not easy typing with one arm)

Stay inside, warm and safe

What made me happy today? Being able to stay home, where it's warm and safe.
It started snowing again yesterday. I love snow, and even more so when I do not have to go through it. Luckily I was able to work from home today, as there was over 1600 km of traffic jams. Not to mention a lot of accidents. The buses were all running late, or not even driving at all.
I know not everyone has the luxury of being able to work from home on days where there is 15 - 20 cm of snow. I didn't either until a short while ago. Besides, working from home meant that I could sleep 2 hours longer, which I could really, really use.
And it gave me the opportunity to secretly laugh with my neighbor across the street. He thought it was a good idea to start shoveling his sidewalk while it was still snowing. Three times...
So I'm a lucky girl :-) But to those of you who aren't able to work from home: stay inside if you can, stay warm and safe!

Snow

What made me happy today? Snow!
I like snow. A lot. It makes everything look so pretty. The world seems a bit more silent when snow covers everything and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Not to mention that is was the kind of snow that makes that nice crunchy sound under your boots.
We don't get a lot of snow here in Belgium and when we do, it usually means chaos. It once took me 3.5 hours to get home when it started snowing unexpectedly. This country seems to stop functioning when there's more than 1 cm of snow on the ground.
I'm usually prepared for snow. I have a pair of awesome snow boots, a nice warm hat, coat and gloves. Sadly, it seems like a lot of people don't. I saw a lot of women wearing high heels this morning, only to look very surprised when they slipped and almost fell.
In general, this country almost never seems to be able to deal with snow. But this time it was different :-) The busses were pretty much on time, the trains had some issues and the traffic jams were not that bad either. There were two snow plows on the roads this morning. (never saw a snow plow IRL before, so that was a bonus) I even managed to make it into the office without too much delay. And the snow just kept on coming. When I arrived at work, it had just started snowing again and it didn't stop until around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. So I was kind of afraid about the ride home, and how long it would take. But my fear was unfounded, as it all went very smoothly :-)
Using public transportation on snow days has it's advantages: more time to enjoy the view, no need to pay attention to the road etc.
Besides, snow means that my inner child can come out and make a snow man. After which I will go back inside, make some hot cocoa and curl up on the couch under my fleece Wall-E blanket with a movie or a book. Perfect winter evening.