Carpe diem with kids

3 months in isolation and we managed to book a flight for my Mum to return back home. I’ve got mixed feelings about it - I am mainly worried about the time spent in the airport and during the flight surrounded by people. A bit sad because the girls, mostly Emma keeps saying she doesn’t want her to go, so she’ll be quite disappointed for a while. But knowing Emma, she’ll quickly get over it. Relieved - because we really needed to get back to being us four and get back to our normal (haha!) life. It can be tricky to live with our parents. There are expectations on both sides, and not all the time these are being met. And when this extends over a long period of time, it becomes even more difficult. There may be choices we make and our parents don't agree to, just because they've lived different, they are just a different generation. I believe the generation gap deepens when it comes to parenting styles and it’s very difficult to view the comments as constructive. It may be a Ro...

After moving here to the UK, and after Ariana was well settled into the new nursery, I started a new job in IT. It was a complete turn of my career, from academia where I already knew the drills and was comfortably climbing up the professional ladder. So I felt totallyout of my depth, really nervous and soon I realised I had all the reasons to be. I was dealing with all sort of clients, each quite different (in attitude as well as in infrastructure) and every single issue that came up was new and something I've not dealt with before. And then the language barrier - not a massive one, but added up to the load. So one day, a colleague said: be like a duck. I thought, WTF?! So he explained: a duck on the water looks very calm and serene, while under the water is peddling like hell. So when speaking to clients or being on the phone to them, seem like everything's under control and you know exactly what to do, while actually you will do your best to sort out their issue. Do look co...

My first day of annual leave! Ah, the thrill of that, it's finally here! No, I have not spent the morning making to do lists or planning what I've got to do (although they're in my head but I keep ignoring them). Didn't even go for a run, although I was planning to. Instead, I joined Emma on her dance class, then sorted out Legos with Ariana and Dan. I need to focus on not setting expectations for the next week. In my head, lists are building up, plans, tasks, increasing my awareness of all the shit piling up over the last 2 months, all that needs done. If I get any of that done, fine! If not, fine! Now that I've written it, it's like a pact with myself. The main thing we need to catch up on is spending more quality time and playing with the girls. There's been a bit of planning on that side, and a camping night in the garden is in the cards, some Star Wars folded flyers, star gazing, and other 'whatever makes them happy' activities. Yesterday ...

Today would have been the wedding party of our dear friends, somewhere near Lecce in South Italy, and were all so excited about it. My heart goes out to them, I know it' not easy for now,  but we'll party even harder next year. Since we can't make it this year, I decided to make up for each missed holiday by remembering past holidays, looking at pictures and videos, sort of reliving beautiful memories. What a beautiful country Italy is, so many gorgeous places, so much culture, the food, the wines, the joyful people, it can never disapoint. Our first visit to Italy was sort of by accident. In 2006 was attending my first international scientific conference in Rijeka, Croatia, with a colleague I was working with and our partners. We stayed in a villa in Opatija, and while we loved exploring the surroundings and the Istra Peninsula is absolutely gorgeous (so many Venetian influences), I couldn't help throwing the idea of taking a little detour on our way back home and ...

It's one of those days when I just feel nothing's working. Last night had to look into an urgent situation for work and turned my mood upside down. I needed to go out, vent, cycle, run, anything, but then had to put the girls to bed, they're not sleeping if I'm not there. Even Ariana, she needs to know I'm in the next room. Oh, that ombylical cord, guess it was never cut!!! I wonder how miserable I'll be once they finally decide cut it! This morning I woke up thinking I need to clean up the rest of the mess at work on what was supposedly a day off, and felt just annoyed. Then the postman rang the bell and left on our doorstep a box of Fitzbillies Chelsea buns, sent by my employer. And a note, to say thank you for the work done over the last weeks. Timing could never have been better. Again, it's the little things in life, the ups and the downs, the pink and the grey, the clouds and the sunshine, that make us feel alive.  https://www.mommaaddict.com/...

Nearly 7 weeks into this isolation and (at times) I am getting fed up with it, as I am sure most of us are. But don't think the end is near, so we just have to deal with it. While some of us are happily working from home and loving it, their productivity rising to the sky (crazy people, eh?), others are really missing face to face comunication and struggling with all this exclusively remote work.Video calls are generally ok (apart from that very important meeting with a new client when I was supposed to lead the meeting and make a good impression, but my bloody Zoom crashed) but still feel strange and just won't do for me. It is hard, I feel tired, annoyed to not be able to control things, missing people, spending too much time on social media to distract my brain. Today I was witnessing from my kitchen a situation where an older lady fell on the road near the pavement, must have been the heat, and people were trying to help her but keeping the freaking (note how I am tryin...

Interestingly I started writing this a week ago then, don’t know, things got a bit too busy, and lost the momentum, but getting back into it today on Earth day. Spring is just amazing, and we really miss being out and about and enjoying nature at its best - flowers, birds, butterflies, a day by the beach, whatever. I even miss the craziness before leaving the house for a fun family day, getting everything and everyone ready, where by the time we get in the car to leave I am all sweaty and pissed off, and then I need to go back because we forgot something. Fun family day indeed. Surely that only happens to us! 😂 Funniest and most annoying thing I saw on Facebook recently was the ‘Bluebell trail run’ event being postponed. How on Earth do you postpone an event involving seasonal flowers?!  ‘You can never hold back spriiing.‘ Ok, now Tom Waits is stuck in my head again. Couple of years ago in April we visited our friends in Holland and I got to check Keukenhof, the tulip park,...