stlucia.blogg.se

I started this blog when I first went on an exchange to Brisbane, Australia. During that experience, I discovered my love for culture, travelling and adventures. This blog has followed me since and been my forum for pictures and stories from Tanzania, South Africa, Ireland, Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe etc.

SLOVENIA

Publicerad 2015-08-25 21:00:03 i Allmänt,

Summer holiday this year went to Slovenia. We rented a car on the airport and drove to the alps in Lake Bled. We had expected the drive to be about two hours but in just 30 min, we had reached our first destination. Bled was beautiful but quite touristy. Also, since Bled is one of Slovenias two major lakes, all city people in Slovenia also seemed to spend their weekends and time off here. It was still beautiful, clear blue water and a little historic island in the middle of the lake.
(everything for a good pic)
After just one day in Bled we took off to the second lake, Lake Bohinj. Unfortunately we were quite unlucky with the weather so the hiking and trail running I had been looking forward to sort of did not happen. We did however rent mountainbikes and cycled around to our best ability.
Pausing at the top of one of many mountains.
Lake Bohinj in the background.
We also got recommended to Savica waterfalls so we rode there as well. The probloem with slovenia being part of the EU is that EVERYTHING cost money. We rode more than 10km to this 'spectacular' waterfall just to find out that they took an entry fee of 5Euro. This happened in almost every place we went and turned out to be a bit of a dissapointment. The waterfall was nice but I have seen lots better - for free.
On the third day it was raining a lot so we went off to Lipica, the place from which the lipizaner horses originate. It was a bit of a tourist trap and I had honestly hoped for a spectacular show (as all the pictures around this place sort of indicated) but the show was just boring. Walking around on the area though was very nice and the horses are just beautiful.
As the weather forecast said the sun was shining in Trieste (Italian coast) we drove there. My most important advice after this trip is - dont go there. It was probably the most ugly city/coastal area Ive even been to. So much potential and such a waste.
The beach in Trieste. Later on, this cobbler stone beach was packed of people sunbathing. Just to te right was the main road.
As the rain continued and crashed our hiking plans, we re-planned and went of to the wine yard district in Smarto, which was very nice!
It would have been nice to spend more time here but unfortunatelt nime was running out. Too short holidays! Finishing off with some random holiday pics:
Caught some sun in the winte district!
Ljubiljana.
 
Overall. Slovenia was nice. It would be a great place for hikers and mountainbikers, but when the weather fails, it sort of doesnt offer too much. Still some relaxing days and environmental change and ofcourse - great company!
 
 
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Lidingö offroad

Publicerad 2015-08-12 21:14:06 i Allmänt,

As my goal is to make j interested in triathlon I thought a little team race would be a clever thing to start with. So me, Joel and his friend Mattias entered lidingo off-road triathlon. As m was the only one with a mountain bike he scored the bike leg, me myself was swimming and Joel got to run. 

I'm at the front, only person with a red swimming cap, not sure how that happened but it made me easy to recognize! So off we went, I swam my 750 m in 14.39 (which includes the first transition time) and made it out of the water as third lady. Mattias went off on the bike And...... Disappeared! We were eagerly waiting for him at his first lap but he never came. Started to get worried he came off his bike or had a flat or something and we had more or less given up, chillin out on the grass when he suddenly appears! J into transition and off he went for the run leg. 
Apparently Mattias along with a bunch of girls had been directed in the wrong direction and cycled two long laps instead of the one small and one big one they were meant to do. Despite this, Mattias had the second best bike time of the day! (He cycled 3-4km too far!) 
And j secured our mixed team win by running his 5km in 21.03 (with an injured foot) 

The biggest disappointment was not however that we cycled too far, but the winnin. Team did not get a medal! Whaaaat were they thinking!? Instead individuals got to pick a piece of item from a table, mainly sport related stuff. And teams got an entry to lidingo relay (staffeten). Hmmm. So the reason people enter as a team is because generally they are not all able to do every leg themselves. Mattias is injured and can't run and Joel has already an entry to lidingo loppet. AND the race was on a Friday at 2pm. Not ideal. 
However, despite the lack of medals we all had a great day and are already planning out comeback next year. We believe we can be the winning team overall as only one male team beat us with 4 minutes (easily taken of you cycle the right path). Challenge is on! 

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MY RESEARCH GOING VIRAL

Publicerad 2015-08-03 20:30:24 i Allmänt,

I am very honoured that my PhD-work has gained so much attention during such a short time. If only one person chose not to drink while planning to become pregnant, because of my research, then it has made a difference. If people just start to think and talk about this - they don't even have to agree, just think about it - then my three years of hard work (including every weekend, late nights and all public holidays while others have been celebrating Christmas and Easter) - has been worthwhile. 

I know a lot of people believe this type of research is bullshit because "they were hammered when they conceived and their 3 year old daughter is perfectly fine" or "alcohol should be considered a part of our daily diet so this is impossible to achieve anyway" or "the embryo does not need any nutrients before it 'glues' itself onto the uterus so before that you can drink whatever you want to". Let me just begin with this. You are wrong. I am not saying I am right in every aspect of my research. But you are wrong. Let's agree to this: 1) How is your own "case-control-study" of you being hammered while getting pregnant and giving birth to One (so far) healthy child more significantly relevant than a well-planned and monitored study with high statistical power? 2) How can alcohol (being a teratogenic toxic substance) ever be considered as a normal part of our diet? and 3) Although it is incorrect that the early embryo does not need any nutrients because it has not yet implanted, this is not the point. The point is that alcohol can enter any uterus regardless fertilization/preimplantation state and it can change the environment in which your future baby is developing. I’m not saying it will impact on every single embryo being subject to early alcohol contact. I am just saying it May increase the risk of future diseases. So please, instead of being in complete denial of this, perhaps because you were hammered when you got pregnant or because you consider alcohol as an essential part of your diet. Just assume for 1 second that parts of this might actually be true (perhaps not all of it because media wants to create a wow-effect) – but still. Even if there is just a small chance you will harm your baby if you conceived drunk (although it is likely to turn out perfectly fine), that your baby as an adult may have a greater risk of developing diabetes or any other disease (although it may also be healthy for 100 years), would you still say it was worth it?

 Media's job is to sell news. Our aim with research is to get closer to understanding how life works. I am aware more than half of all pregnancies are unplanned but there are also a great proportion of people planning their pregnancy with a glass of wine in their hands, being in denial, or perhaps not knowing any better. Our research is a small part of a big puzzle and it does not provide the answers to everything. If I with my research – which a lot of you will refer to as utterly bullshit – have made people talk about this subject, then I have made a statement that might give at least one child a better life. And then it was worth it…

 For media coverage see below:

 

Daily mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3180237/Women-consume-just-FIVE-alcoholic-drinks-time-conception-greater-risk-having-obese-child.html
Medical daily:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/drinking-around-time-conception-increases-babys-risk-developing-type-2-diabetes-later-345624
Science daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150731103746.htm
6 minutes:
http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/latest-news/study-highlights-the-dangers-of-alcohol-at-concept
Vetallt.se
http://www.vetallt.se/2015/07/31/5-drinkar-under-graviditeten-kan-gora-barnet-allvarligt-sjukt/
NDTV:
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mothers-drinking-at-conception-increases-childs-diabetes-risk-study-1202761
Gazette review (most details):
http://gazettereview.com/2015/08/women-who-drink-at-conception-increase-childs-diabetes-risk/
SBS:
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/03/drinking-around-conception-time-can-increase-risk-diabetes-study-finds
 
FASEB journal (original source):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25733565
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Stockholm aquatlon

Publicerad 2015-07-31 10:07:16 i Allmänt,


A few weeks ago I participated in my first ever aquatlon, ie I swum 1km and ran 7 km. I've never been running straight after swimming before and I must admit it was tough. Obviously it was also super fun! 
I was the First Lady out of the water swimming 1km (time 17.26min) which felt like a massive win as I couldn't even swim one lap in the pool two years ago. Unfortunately the Swedish chicks are good runners and I missed out on the podium despite running my 7km in 30.45 min. With transition time my total was 49.30 min which I am super happy with! Last year that would have been a clear win but as this type of sport is getting bigger the competition is getting tougher. That's good! 
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Training weekend

Publicerad 2015-07-05 15:19:48 i Allmänt,


As Joel is spending the weekend I. Switzerland, I got plenty of time for exercise (and thesis corrections). Yesterday I rode 80 km on beautiful Swedish (to my bike) colour coordinated  country roads.

I love everything g about this, apart the little details I ways ride solo. I really wish for my friends to get hooked in this amazing sport so I can get some company and so they can experience what I am experiencing :) 

Today I started the day with finishing my thesis corrections followed by 20km run along Uppsala river. Followed by eating an entire water melon :D good stuff! Feel very content about my weekend and prepped for a new week at work while everyone se are starting their holidays! 
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Midsummer 2015

Publicerad 2015-06-29 10:29:19 i Allmänt,

Midsummer in the Stockholm archipelago, very traditional with amazing food, good people and rain! What more cod you ask for? 

Mormors lilla kråka skulle ut o åka! 

Mi love❤️

Isabelle making the midsummer cake 

Traditional kubb, no need to reveal who won. 

Men stealing women's midsummer flowers.
We even went swimming in the 14 degree Östersjön! 3 times!!! 
Ie, all the ingredients a Swedish midsummer should have! 
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Sprint sm in triathlon, Uppsala

Publicerad 2015-06-27 10:28:30 i Allmänt,

Updates about Uppsala triathlon sm in June. First triathlon of the season. The season which is way shorter in Sweden compard with what I'm used to in aussieland. I honesty have not trained much. I have not had the time to and I miss the social aspects behind tris. No clubs that I have found have been convenient for me to join. They either train at the wrong place or at the wrong time. But I've done my best to keep up myself. Uppsala triathlon, like all tris in Sweden have a different set up when it comes to registration and classes. If you  are under 34 you cannot comptete in age groups but have to compete either in the pro class, otherwise you have to participate in a general exercise class, ie. no competition and nothing to win! So I entered the pro class, as compared with other countries you don't have to qualify to compete pro, anyone with a competition licence, which you simply buy from Sweden triathlon can enter. Soon after I realized the pro class in this particular tri had the Swedish elite competing in it and the set up was like the world champs for elite. Drafting allowed, 7 laps in cobblestone in the in we city and dive start. I was so nervous I considered bailing. But then I thought the least I an do is trying. So I tried.



Was a relief to come out of the 15 degrees biohazardous Fyrisån in which the swim took place. 

The bike course was the toughest I have ever experienced. 7 laps up a massive massive hill and then over a wooden ramp built over stone rocks out over cobblestone in downhill. Horrible! 

Legs were quite tired when swapping to run. 3 times up a long hill. 
I managed to finish as number 9 in the women elite/pro class in the sprint sm competition. I was very happy to master the dive start as I am terrified to even jump into the water from the edge of the swimming pool. And I was super happy not to come off my bike on the cobblestone. And of course to finish 9th in a start field of 5 of swedens best triatetes :)
Swim (750m): 14.23 min 
T1: 41 sek
Bike (20km): 40.55 min
T2: 37sek
Run (5km): 24.14 sek
Total: 1hr19min12sek


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Canadian visitor

Publicerad 2015-05-16 18:04:28 i Allmänt,

I'm so happy to have had my Canadian equal visiting me for a few days. Laura and I became friends in the yoga studio the black dove in hippie west end in Australia three years ago. We hiked and yogaed our way through Australia for a bit more than a year before she moved back to canada. So this was a very happy reunion.
It's also always good to have visitors because the remind you to appreciate your own home. Sometimes you tend to forget that things nearby also are beautiful. 

A little day trip to vaxholm archipelago 


Archipelago lunch

Morning walk in nacka nature reserve
Me making Swedish dinner for the Swiss and the Canadian 

Very well spent long weekend. Next time I'll have to come to canada :) 


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Valborg

Publicerad 2015-05-04 07:09:19 i Allmänt,

Typical Swedish sprig celebration wit a first timer who thinks it's embarrassing posing for pictures:)
Valborg certainly doesn't look like it used to do. We had a quiet weekend, j studying for his cfa exam and me planting avocado tree babies 

Now I'm on my way to Uppsala again for another week if work. 

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SWITZERLAND

Publicerad 2015-04-15 19:44:26 i Allmänt,

Spent Easter in Switzerland with my better half and his family. Although it was raining most of the time, we still got some pretty glimpses of the beautiful scenery: 
The lake just below J's parents house. Cannot wait to swim here at summer!
From the top of the clock tower in Zug town.
Zug panorama
Obviously had to stop to take a picture of this Swiss cow!
With Luzern in the background, our only sunny day!
Luzern
The famous touristy bridge in Luzern
 
More Luzern!
 
So these are the snap shots from my first of many Swiss trips!
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NEW LIFE

Publicerad 2015-03-29 11:01:40 i Allmänt,

Wow, it has been forever since I wrote something here! I guess my only excuse is I have been to busy. I've spent hours and hours job searching, writing thesis and taking uni courses. At least all that work paid off because I found a job! After like 55 job applications (whereof only 1 or 2 were temporary posts, ie the Swedish job market is screwed up!), I got offered a job at a big medical company at the quality control laboratory. So from one day to another I moved to Uppsala, was lucky enough to get a 3 months apartment contract (another screwed up market in Sweden is accommodation!) and started my new life with 2 days notice. Moved to Uppsala on a Tuesday night, walked down to the local bike shop and said i needed a bike to cycle to work next day. Got one and off I went!
New bike, new apartment, new city, new job!
 
Thesis is close to finished, will submit within the next few hours and that is extremely excited! Working fulltime, taking uni courses full time and writing thesis fulltime for the last 4 weeks has been draining. 
 
What else happened between Galapagos islands and now? Well, here comes the quick updates:
I've been running millions of times in a beautiful winter landscape
Ice skating for the first time in 8 years
Been spending time with best friends little cuties
Cut my hair
More running...
But most importatly, I got a niece! 
 
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GALAPAGOS PART 4

Publicerad 2014-12-14 11:39:31 i Allmänt,

This will be the last Galapagos update, after that, its back to snow and cold and dark and depressing weather and life...
Me and Soph after snorkling in this superclear and deep blue water between two rockwalls on Santa Cruz island.
The main street, and our hotel on Isabela Island.
Back to San Christobal in Galapagero
Indulging in cute baby pictures on my last day
Finished this trip by asking a barista in Guyaquil if he could make a turle in my espresso. He did his best but I must say I was expecting more. At least the coffee was really tasty as compared to all the instant coffee people offered on the Islands. 
Thats it for my 2 wonderful weeks on Galapagos Islands. If you ever get the chance, don't think twice, just go! =)
 
 
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GALAPAGOS PART 3

Publicerad 2014-12-11 17:00:25 i Allmänt,

The 5 days we spent on Isabella island was more or less paradise itself. We visited the second biggest crater in the world (11km diameter) up in the highlands:
And this type of view is what you mainly would expect when visiting a crater. You see nothing - but still it has some sort of peaceful quietness over it.
 
Ofcourse we saw a lot of animals. The iguanas are EVERYWHERE
We enjoyed beautiful sunsets
Visited the wall of tears, the only remaining evidence of the slavery time of Galapagos Islands where slaves where forced to build this wall by hand.
Most importantly: We found the first wild tortuous along the road! =D And he nicely allowed us to pose with him for a long time =)
We found cool and desert beaches
And after many early (5am) and lonely mornings where I got up by myself on pinguin safaris, I spotted this little fella swimming around for 15 minutes in the harbour.
 
On another early morning, I found flamingos instead of pinguins, almost as good!
Sometimes curious sea lions would come up to you and sniff you. Pretty hard to sleep on Galapagos beaches...
Pelican about to dive for fish
Sea lions taking over town!
On our way back to Isabella, we decided to take the plane (luckily because I did not enjoy that 4hr boat ride on wild open water we had to take to get there). Noone else had booked the flight on the same day as us so we had our own private pilots taking us home =)
 
The town of the entire San christobal from above!
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GALAPAGOS PART 2

Publicerad 2014-12-10 14:15:58 i Allmänt,

One of the highlights of the entire Galapagos trip was our little trip to Isabella Island and the Lava tunnel snorkling tour. The underwater world is so precious and beautiful and it is so peaceful to swim around with the different seacretures.
White tip shark
This is the biggest sea turtle I have ever seen in my life. I spent half the camera battery on it and I had no idea such big sea turtles even existed.
The two massive seaturtles (out of many) we were lucky enough to swim with. You can sort of estimate the size of them compared to Sophias body in the backgrpound.
Im a terrible diver and struggle to get down far below the surface. My body just seem to float, but still managed to get this lucky one.
Sea horse

A very venomous sea snake on the sea floor
This tour finished on the lava tunnels, at a blue footed nesting spot and I hated myself for not bringing my SLR camera to this place. Luckily the underwater one still had a tad bit of battery and I got some (less amazing) photos of this very amazing scenery:
Baby bloo footed booby. So white and fluffy <3
These tho handsome boobies vere nice nenough to pose with me on several photos.They did not mind me in the background at all!
Soph me and our newly found mexican friend Lori on the Lava rocks.
 
For anyone travelling to the Galapagos, I would so warmly recommend this tour. You will basically see everything you ever wanted to see. If I had a thicker wallet, I would have taken it every day we spent on isabella island.
 
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GALAPAGOS PART1

Publicerad 2014-12-09 14:07:16 i Allmänt,

So, after 40hrs flight with delays and hours spend on Spanish-only-speaking airports, I arrived to this desert island. It was nice to change -5 degrees for +30. Galapagos Islands comprises of 14 major island, whereof my friend Soph lives on the 3rd biggest, San Christobal. This island have about 7000 permanent recidents and it even has its own little airport, which I happily landed on.
Me on the main street
 
An hour after I landed, I was right on the beach, in front of the University Soph works as an English teacher on. And you'd think I'd almost be bored visiting beaches after almost 5 years in Australia, but this one was quite unik, as you've already seen some pics of. And although I could fill the entire blogg with cute little sea lion faces (out of my like 1000 photos of them, here are some of my favs):
You gotta share the beach...
The lions love music and are also very curios. Here is one getting a bit too close to Sophs friend Nico while he is playing on the beach.
Awww...

A few days into the trip, we went to El Hunco crater in the highlands. We were very lucky to have sunshine and a clear day as it normally is so foggy you can't even see your own feet.
 
On the way back, we found this amazing tree house in which we stayed the night:
This treehouse was like a playground, amazingly fun and it even had a bathroom in it. Its pretty fun to take a shower in a tree house. I just couldnt get over it! The tree is the oldest (300yrs) and biggest tree of Galapagos, which otherwise is pretty low in terms of vegetation.
 
The following day we went past a far distant beach to do ome bird watching. Galapagos has so many beautiful spices of birds and other animals and its quite wonderful to just sit on a rock for hours to try and spot these:
My absolute fav, the blue footed boobie
Tropical bird
One of my fav shots, I think its a Darwin finch but Im not sure
 
Ok, so this will be update number one. There is more to come (cliffhanger)!
 
 
 
 
 
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HOME

Publicerad 2014-12-08 16:42:17 i Allmänt,

So, the last update did't really work as expected. I'll blame the internet connection and will start over eventually. Im back in Sweden now, and survived my 2 scary days in scary Guyaquil on the continent, as well as the 24hr flight back. While looking through my pictures, I concluded that little Zelda looks very much like a sea lion. Hard to tell them apart actually...
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SAN CHRISTOBAL

Publicerad 2014-11-23 17:24:00 i Allmänt,

So, I never want to ever see an airport again. Spent 40 hrs on various planes and airports to reach this paradise. I don´t think I´ll come home again, purely because I never want to fly again haha.
Anyway, 40 hrs was definately worth getting to this beautiful place. 
Before I left, I was somehow worried I would not get to see any sea lions. I thought all the photos soph had shown me about the sea lions was like a lucky moment or something. I was SO wrong! They are EVERYWHERE! And they treat us humans as we are paparazzis, they come up and sniff on you and they are so curious. They swim with you and its just incredible to see this creatures being so graceful in the water. I was lucky to arrive in time for puppy season as well. Little sea lions are everywhere and they are SO cute and fluffy. I don´t think I will ever get used to this. I hope I´m not!
Me and Soph just an hour after I arrived. Getting from the airport took 1 min in the cab =)
Me and the alpha male. Hes a bit scary but very beautiful!
 
We went snorkling with turtles yesterday. Unfortunately my under water camera decided to leak in water so it is now dead =(( Luckily my SLR is still working!
There is so much to exlore here, better get out and do that Now!
 
 
 
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WATCH THIS SPACE!

Publicerad 2014-11-19 19:17:00 i Allmänt, resor, träning,

(Photo taken by my lovely friend Soph from the beach I will be on in 48hrs time!)

I've just finished packing for my 36hr flight to Galapagos tomorrow morning. I was a bit dissapointed to find out about how long time the trip will actually take. Usually, i never look at the time and I can't be bothered to calculate the hours based on time differences etc. But my dad kindly told me it would take me 36hrs all in all. (Yay!)
 
Plan is to write my home exam for my environmental uni course on the flight, by hand of course, as I'm not bringing my laptop. It will be a long one, but I'm pretty confident it will be worth it.
---> Galapagos time!
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galapagos, resor,

INDOOR CYCLING

Publicerad 2014-11-17 09:10:18 i Allmänt,

THIS is the investment of the year when the roads are wet, icy and slippery:
First time I've ever cycled on a turbo trainer but it was actually quite tough! Think I'll be watching TV this way now. Much more effective. Maybe I should even connect the TV to the trainer so it's impossle to watch without cycling =) Surely parents would like that too =D
 
Oh, and Mark sent me this adorable pic of my bestie. Gosh I miss her sooo much every day! <3
 
 
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IT'S BEEN A WHILE..

Publicerad 2014-11-10 09:25:29 i Allmänt,

I've just not been motivated to write in a while. Writing so many job applications and am usually quite drainer afterwards. It's November. It's cold, dark and grey and people are sneezing all over the place. I've been hosting bacteria and viruses for 2 stupidly harsh November flu's within 3 weeks and it sucks. Training is suffering and I'm so incredibly restless.
Finally getting a bit better after flu #2. Sitting here starring out of the little window seing sights like these:
....who would NOT be inspired to book a little trip to somewhere nicer??
So I did:
First: I booked a trip to Tallin for mum's upcoming bday/Christmas. So she and I are going to take a cruise and visit the christmas market there. =)
Second: I BOOKED A TRIP TO GALAPAGOS ISLANDS! One of my best aussie friends, Sophia, is working on galapagos islands and had 2 weeks off in the end of Novemer. After being fed with her pictures overloaded with cuteness, I couldn't resist. In 1.5 weeks, I'm going to Galapagos. Booked this 3 days ago and also still waiting for my new passport. So you can definately expect some upcoming nice travelling pics again =D
 
Another thing I've started to keep myself busy in the November darkness is I started a silver clay course. Ive only been once but am totally hooked! This is my first ever silver clay creation, 10g pure silver:
 
 
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Emmie

Flying high but staying grounded. Travelling, adventures, exploring and adrenaline is my life. I write about places most people want to visit but never do; and about my triathlon lifestyle. I live after: The distance between your dreams and reality is called action.

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