Author Archives: Zesty Gal

Quality Time

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Life was bliss for three weeks. No rushing, no nagging, no disturbance, just peace and quiet and dealing with an extremely hot summer. It was the best three weeks off I’ve had in a while because I didn’t have to share my time with anyone else. It was just me and it felt awesome. I took the goldsmith course which was an amazing experience as well. Especially when the person teaching -a professional goldsmith- tells you that you have the skill set, patience, creativity and the exceptional natural ability to do this kind of work. I was flattered because she was not the kind of person to give compliments. I’m sure she must have noticed my passion for designing and making jewellery.

The friend who passed away about a month ago, used to be a goldsmith as well. Her ex-partner gave all her tools to me when he heard I was going to take this course. I didn’t use them yet as they were in a small flight case and I had to go through all her stuff first and clean it. It took me three days to sort it, clean it and give it some extra TLC. I had to sand down the inside of the flight case as there was glue stuck allover. After sanding it down I painted it white and cleaned all the aluminium edging and corners on the outside. It looks so much better now, it’s ready to be used. All I need to add over time, is a proper desk, gas torch and tank, hoses, saw, hammer and ring mandrel.

I’ve bought a Garmin vivosport activity tracking device a while ago and have been keeping an eye on stress levels since. They were extremely high, especially in May and June this year and although I didn’t feel stressed most of the time, it was telling me that I really had to slow down and try to reduce this. These past three weeks levels had dropped significantly which was a real eye-opener. I’ve started working again so I’m curious to see what will happen this month. The fact that temperatures were extremely high and I was forced to take things slow must have contributed to lower stress levels as well. I’ve been craving for some serious long spells of rain and thunderstorms for weeks now!

I’ve met up with friends for dinner and really enjoyed their company as I hadn’t been able to see most of them for at least six months, some for over a year. We had lots of stories to share! I’ve updated my jewellery business website and added more pictures in the portfolio section. And I’ve been playing with electroforming but that didn’t go well, I was expecting better results. I’ll have to look into things and see what is causing issues. I think I might have contaminated the bath as I was experimenting with fabric on gemstones. Because of the heat my conductive paint dried waaaaay too fast and I’m guessing it didn’t seal parts completely, also the liquid rubber I’ve used was a new technique.

I’ll try to fix it this weekend. Going back to work was kind of hard because it was 32C at the start of this week and 29C in my office space, too hot to focus on things that need to be done. Today I’m working from home and have some extra time to get chores done and write a blog in between. Still there’s too much on my plate, I can’t seem to focus because of the weather and not sleeping very well. Summer is great but these temperatures are driving me nuts. Last week the government announced an official drought and shortage of water, because of this trees and plants are dying, use of tap water is still fine and not restricted (yet). Thunderstorms and rain is expected tomorrow, we’ll see…

First things first, let’s get some work done ;)

The Flow

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I’ve been in thinking mode again lately. It’s because I realised there’s so much change going on at the moment. I’ve written before that I’m keeping a planner, it’s a cool planner as it allows you to set goals for a year and keep track of your progress over time. I’ve set goals for three months, one year, the next three years, and a lifetime. It’s how the planner works. Each month you’ll have to evaluate and write a report about the past 30/31 days, check if you reached your goals, highlight your accomplishments, write down how you can approve things etc.etc. I’m doing this because I need to keep track on how I’ve spent my spare time to see if it is balanced and if I get to spend enough time on things that relax me.

Ten days ago I wrote my evaluation about April and whilst checking back on dates I found out that I actually had accomplish quite a lot more than I was expecting. It surprised me to see that some of the deadlines I’d set for goals somewhere in the near future (three months from now or even further away) I’d already either started or finished. It has to do with certain situations that I’m fed up with in a way. I’ve been fed up with myself for a while already ;) Let me explain that. Because of 12 hour days (or often more), I started to neglect myself. I’d come home and would choose the easy and quick option because I wasn’t organised, meaning for instance, that I would get a take-away during the week and cook over the weekends.

At times I’m home at 20.30 or later thus I don’t feel like cooking anymore because I’m tired and would like to relax for an hour. My days start at 05.30. So I had a hard time trying to keep things balanced as they were supposed to be. I never expected this to get out of hand due to unhealthy eating and not enough exercise, as I was always pretty keen on keeping an eye on this. Slowly but surely things went sideways and I sensed it straight away but I didn’t act on it immediately. Then there was the vertebral fracture and the arthrosis which kept me from doing anything health-wise because I am too scared to aggravate the situation. I felt stuck and I wasn’t happy with myself at all until the day I decided enough is enough.

I took baby steps but I took them… and I’m surprised to see how good it feels. I went to the gym around the corner and asked if they had a physiotherapist specialised in vertebral fractures and they did! I’ve made a 180 once again ;) I’m eating extremely healthy, plan things in advance, prepare lunch for work instead of buying premade food, bake my own bread (special bread as I cut out carbs completely) and exercise like crazy. I love the exercises and workout because I can feel it makes my back stronger and I have less pain each day. I’m still not allowed to do some of the exercise that I really love, like rowing or running as it puts too much strain on my back, but there will be a day in the near future where I can!

I’ve also bought a fitness tracker to see how I’m doing on a daily basis, to my surprise I get enough exercise during the day, I’m way above the goals it sets for me, e.g. at times I walk 12km per day because I love to walk. So far I really enjoy doing all this, which -to be honest- I didn’t expect. The only downside is that I’m supposed to workout twice a week and for the last six weeks the commute has been a total pain with a minimum of half hour delays each day. Hopefully I’ll be able to work from home on Wednesday so I can go to the gym in the evening. My next step is buying an apartment, yes I know it’s something completely different, but it’s all part of a bigger plan. I’m working on this, let’s say I’m prepping for my future.