BID no. 89 - Throw Away the Instant Noodles

- check!

The past 4 years I've evolved from a basic cook (macaroni and precooked meatballs) into some one with quite an interest in cooking. I take pride in baking my own bread, making sauces from scratch, always serving with a nice fresh sallad and always reading och trying out new recipies.

Not at all interested in the fancy pancy restaurant cooking, but all about that "italian style dinner" which for me is represented by hours together at the dinner table, chattering over a nice, flavourful pot of food, ideally served with some great red wine (amarone, yes please), home made rustic bread, and a lot of laughter.

I did throw away those instant noodles during these years of evolving. Or, really, I have not eaten noodles for almost 15 years. I don't eat pasta, rice, potatoes or white bread if I don't have to for right amount of carbohydrates. So I guess I can check this box with clear conscience.

And for all you BBQ-lovers out there, here's a comprehensive list of cooking temperature (in Swedish) for various meat you might want to throw on the grill during the summer! Check that site out even if you are not a BBQ-fan (el who isn't?!), it's packed with all kind of great recipies!

BID no. 41 - Be friends with your ex

- check!

I've been thinking about ticking of this challenge for some time but have never felt the urge to sit down and gather my thoughts about my exes (not that they are that many). But now I think the time is right to get things done and over with. And it really is silly, all this hestiation about this part, because there is really nothing bad to tell at all. No juicy details or quarrels, just separations and decisions done.

But let's begin from the start with some background. And as they say, you can't love them all. But you can't be blamed for trying.

My first sweetheart. When I was 8.

His name was Matthias and he was the sporty type and I was the tomboy. I guess I took an interest in him because of my 11 year old brother who was in love with Matthias older sister. As I recall he was quite intelligent, and I think we might have had a good time together when we grew up, if we both hadn't moved from town. I gave my first kiss to this boy on the meadow close to our homes and he gave me one of his most precious collectable cards from the Hockey-series when we said good-bye. That is so cute when I think about it now! :)

After this first encounter of the world of love, quite a lot of years past when I was secretely in love with a couple of boys, but never felt anything more than just excitement and daydreaming about "what would be if...". Of course there was some guys that i actually went out with, but nothing serious went cooking until the first summer of High School when after some messing around I met

The love of my life. When I was 16.

Have you ever felt the feeling where you are invincible together with someone? You feel strong, beautiful, bubbling with love and happiness so strong that you feel you can fly easily as a butterfly in the skies just as long as that person is with you.

That summer was without a doubt the happiest summer I've ever lived. Just three short months of sheer love and wonderful days and nights together, along with a lot of fun experiences like it is supposed to be when you are a teenager. The summer love was abruplty ended, though. A hasty break-up that crushed my heart and killed all my beliefs in honest and true love.

After some years we got to talking and had that "why things went that way-talk", and that kind-of mended my broken heart and let us go along on our separate roads as friends. Now I feel thankful towards my teenage love for that great summer and for giving me the possibility of feeling real thunderstruck love for once in my life.

After that I must say I've been the luckiest girl in the world to have met the most wonderful boys and men. The guys with all that patience, love and kindness in their heart, that have spent quite some time (years) with me in our relationships and kept that wonderful way even after I've split up with them for various reasons. One of them is

 

The father of my children. When I was 20.

There is really not much to say about this relationship except it was good, he was kind and everything was great. We got engaged after 2 years, and after 4 years we had our first child, our son Jesper. Everything kept being perfect unless I felt a bit restless because he never wanted to go anywhere or explore other countries or even cities in our country. Other than that the everyday life was good, and we got married in december 2005. After that we tried and tried to become pregnant again but nothing happened and the everyday life became bad as the computers and the alcohol took more and more part of my husbands life. I tried to talk to him but nothing happened. I tried to talk to him about other things as well but nothing happened. In january 2007 I found out I was pregnant. But by then I had already made up my mind. If he didn't stop drinking I would leave him. In march the coming year, I got an apartment that I wanted, and then we decided to separate after almost a year of fruitless discussions. There was never a problem. He helped me move my furniture, he came to comfort me when I was depressed after giving birth and not getting enough sleep, and he had the patience of an angel. Without a doubt there is only him to thank for this great relationship we have around our boys today. I can never ever see myself getting together with him today as we are way to different in matter of achiements and what to ask of the world, but I am greatful for the boys we have and that I always feel secure about him giving them all the love he possibly can.

 

My love of today. When I am 30.

Actually I met my love of today when I was like 16 or something. I didn't really know him well and I kind of thought he was the quiet guy that lived in his apartment with his fishtank and wrote poems when he was feeling down. But there was something interesting about him that I never got to put my finger on as other guys came in the way. But I still recall one phone call between us when I was sad and down and he told me to choose between him and the love of my life that managed to break my heart in the worst kind of way later on, as I evidently chose the "wrong guy" back then. Never could I imagine that I would have the opportunity to make the right choice 15 years later.

The story behind how we met is too long to be told here and subject to a different matter, but where I want to go with this is here: After 2 years of struggling with how to make a life work together (with mine and his children, bad economy etc. etc.) we had lost not only the trust in each other but the most important thing in a relationship; the communication. Basically the thing that got us together in the first place, was the way we shared our thoughts, so intimately. And after about a year of one discussion after another that led nowhere, there was no communication to rebuild our faith and trust in each other. No place for love to grow. We were both feeling that our relationship had no future but we had different ways of dealing with it.

A long story short, we broke up. A horrible break-up that I don't wish for anyone. There were so much anger, hurt and sadness in it and I don't think I have cried so much since the love-of-my-life-guy left me. A couple of months passed (summer and vacation just flew by when trying to coping with my life, getting a new place to live and so on) and we kept sporadic contact just in order to solve all the economics and of course when I called to yell at him and cry when I felt down...

But in the end of summer the world was new. We had both begun to live our lives again, and finding joy in everyday life. Yet I missed a piece of my heart. And he as well. From the end of this summer we have been together again, and this time it is all about communication. I am really not the greatest on speaking my mind, but with his help and patience I am more than willing to give it my best. Because I know the piece that was missing in my heart this summer, was a vital piece of my life and for how I want my future to become. It took me 15 years and a break-up to realize that this is the "right guy", and he is the one I want to explore the world with!

BID no 54. Make at Least One Huge Purchase You Can't Afford

- check

Sometimes life just don't turn out the way You expect it to.

When my best good friend in the world and I separated about a month ago, I found myself without a place to live. Due to long waiting lists for a rented apartment, I went looking for something to own. And, now I find my self as the owner of a small townhouse, just the perfect size for me and my children.

And hey, of course I couldn't afford it with just my savings. That's just the way it works in Sweden, You are not supposed to pay for your house today, it's your bank that benefits from your house deal while you just live in the house the bank own. So, with loans up to my neck I am moving on in my life.

But hey, at least I got to check another box on my BID-list! :)

BID no. 36 - Visit every continent

d) Europe

- check!

One of the benefits of my job, is that I sometimes get to travel. This autumn we went to beautiful Stavanger in Norway for a factory visit, and last week I had a training session in webpublishing in Nieuw-Vennep, just outside Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

This was the second time I visited The Netherlands, and as I remembered from the first time the relaxed way of life make your day a bit more enjoyable. We visited Amsterdam the first evening for a dinner at a restaurant not worth remembering the name of, but I learned a sentence in dutch thank's to the busdriver: "u bent laat" (you are late). And also the sentence "dank u wel" as in "thank you very much", was used frequently, even though the dutch people are not very polite (as the say themselves).

 

We stayed in a small town called Nieuw-Vennep close to the factory of our company. During the stay we made quick tours in both the construction factory and the electronic building which is quite interesting if you are into agro-machines :).

I noticed that almost every street was made of paving stone, not asphalt as in Sweden. It had something to do with a riot many years ago where the mob were throwing stones, and because of this the government fixed the paving stones in the street so that demonstrants in the future could not pick up the stones and throw them...oh well...

 

  

A street crossing in Nieuw-Vennep. Lots of stones... :)

 

In addition the the tulips that you see everywhere, the Netherlands are also known for its diamond factories. We passed a few when in Amsterdam, but with a quite small budget on hand, I thought it was wise not to enter. Hopefully next time :).

 

BID no. 38 - See These Animals in the Wild...

e) Elephant

l) Monkey

- check!

During my visit to Thailand in January (2011) I also visited the National Park of Khao Sok, which is one of several national parks in Thailand.(http://www.khaosok.com/)

  

The following text is extracted from the link above, in order to give you a hint of the national park and the extent of it:

The National Park consists of:

• 40 % foothill rainforest • 27 % rainforest plains • 15 % limestone crag vegetation • 15 % lowland scrub • 3 % rainforest at 600-1000 m

The rainforest in this region is some of the oldest in the world, since over the last 160 million years Thailand has remained in a similar equatorial position. The climate in the area has been relatively unaffected by ice ages, since the landmass is relatively small and has seas on both sides. Even whilst other places on the planet were suffering droughts, the Khao Sok region still received enough rainfall to sustain the forests.

Species diversity is high in Khao Sok, since during the last ice age sea levels fell to such an extent that there was a land bridge between Malaysia, Borneo and some of the Indonesian islands. This opened up new migration routes to land based organisms.

The rainforest in Khao Sok has features of both tropical evergreen forest and tropical rainforest. There are approximately 200 different floral species per squarekilometer.

Khao Sok is also famous for its limestone or ‘karst ‘mountains. In most of the region, ground level is about 200m above sea level, with the average mountain heights around 400m. The tallest peak in the National Park is 960m in height.

Wildlife (recorded species)

• Mammals: 48 species • Birds: 311 species • Bats: 38 species • Reptiles: Unknown • Insects: Unknown

During my visit to Khao Sok I managed to see at least

- 1 wild elephant (not including the captured elephants we rode)

- 1 gibbon ass :) (Thank you Jessica for letting me know this one counted!)

- 2 gigantic spiders of the same uknown kind (at least the size of my hand).

- 1 female tree frog

- 1 small kind of lizzard

- a bunch of different beautiful butterflies in wonderful colours.

Do you think I got the animals on camera...?

Only the tree frog and one blue butterfly to show for you...

                

BID no. 36 - Visit every continent

a) Asia

- check!

Between the 16:th-23:rd of janary 2011, I spent a wonderful week in Thailand. Our hotel was situated in the province of Phuket just outside Patong, on Tri Trang Beach and had all the luxuries we could ever want for our vacation. Most of all I wished for sun and solitude, and got plenty of it!

At the wonderful beach close to our hotel we spend many hours just relaxing and reading our books, when not taking a bath in the perfectly tempered waters of Andaman Sea.

We also got our fair share of shopping while visiting Thailand. Patong offered an enormous smorgasbord of "all you can want, as cheap as you can knock it down". To go with all the shopping, there was also motors-bikes and tuk-tuks everywhere, and all the noice this mess of different sounds made! It sure felt good to return to the hotel at night.

I learned that the thai-people are very friendly and very caring, but also that the business of tourism and the wish to reach the "american standard" (this standard you can read about just about anywhere in any kind of commercial or ad) is about to create a problem for the people, as new way of life is so contradictory to their main religion (95% buddhism in Thailand) that states that "the less you have, the richer you are". This contradiction is starting to show already in behaviour created by the tip for service, which is soon to be mandatory if you are to get any service at all in the end.

Buddhism for me is the only way to maintain this world, so it made me a bit anxious about the future. I fear that (at least the south of) Thailand is already over exploited and due to be left by the tourists (their greatest soruce of income) if this carousel isn't to be stopped and reversed.

  

The wonderful hotel Merlin Beach Resort and its beautiful surroundings

 

101 Things To Do Before I Die

There are certain criterias for every task that need to be fulfilled before I can check the task as "completed". These criterias can be read in the book by the same name as the list. I have also added a critera for my own participation, and that concludes that I cannot use any previous experience prior to my 30:th birthday.

 

1. Write a Best-seller

2. Swim With...

a) Sharks

b) Whales

c) Dolphins

d) Tropical Fish

3. Win an Award, Trophy or Prize

4. Catch a Fish With Your Bare Hands

5. Make a Discovery

6. Throw a House Party When your Parents are Out.

7. Be Part of a Threesome

8. Realise Your Childhood Dream

9. Learn That Instrument

10. Leave Your Mark in Graffiti

11. Storm Chase a Tornado

12. Get a Piece of Art into an Exhibition

13. Meet Someone with your Own Name

14. Ride the World's Biggest Rollercoasters

a) Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point, Ohio

b) Steel Dragon 2000, Nagashima Spa Land, Japan

c) Colossus, Thorpe Park, England

d) Superman the Escape, Six Flags Magic Mountain, California

e) Incredible Hulk, Universal Studios Island of Adventure, Florida

f) Son of the Beast, Paramount's Kings Island, Ohio

15. Stage Dive or Crowd Surf

16. Get in to The Guiness Book of World Records

17. Own a Pointless Collection

18. Study the Kama Sutra and Put Theory into Practice

19. Master Poker and Win Big in a Casino

20. Get Backstage and Get Off with a Rock God

21. Be a Human Guinea Pig

22. Go Up in a Hot Air Balloon

23. Get Arrested

24. See a Space Shuttle Launch

25. Capture the Moment in an Award-winning Photograph

26. Bungee Jump

27. See an Erupting Volcano

28. Sky Dive

29. Meet Your Idol

30. Stay in the Best Suite in a Five Star Hotel

31. Experience Weightlessness

32. See the Aurora Borealis

33. Get to Score a Hole in One

34. Design Your Own Cocktail

35. Play a Part in Your Favourite TV Show

36. Visit Every Country Continent

a) Asia

b) Antarctica

c) North America

d) Europe

e) Australasia

f) South America

g) Africa

37. Make Fire Without Matches

38. See These Animals in the Wild...

a) Panda

b) Rhino

c) Hippo

d) Grizzly Bear

e) Elephant

f) Hummingbird

g) Giraffe

h) Koala

i) Manatee

j) Gorilla

k) Lion

l) Monkey

m) Penguin

n) Kangaroo

o) Tiger

p) Crocodile

q) Orangutan

r) Eagle

s) Polar Bear

t) Coelacanth

39. Go to the Dogs

40. Get a Free Upgrade on a Plane

41. Be Friends With Your Ex

42. Hit Your Targets

43. Throw a Dart into a Map and Travel to Where it Lands

44. Attend a Film Premiere

45. Do a Runner From a Fancy Restaurant

46. Scuba Dive

47. Milk a Cow

48. Be Present When Your Country Wins the World Cup

49. See Both Solar and Lunar Eclipses

a) Solar

b) Lunar

50. Write Your Name Over a Star on the Walk of Fame

51. Learn Another Language

52. Read the Greatest Books Ever Written *

53. Complete a Coast to Coast Road Trip Across America

54. Make at Least One Huge Purchase You Can't Afford

55. Score the Winning Goal/Try/Basket

56. Gatecrash a Fancy Party

57. See the All-time Greatest Films *

58. Live in the Place You Love

59. Leave a Job You Hate

60. Take Part in a Police Line-up

61. Get Away with the Perfect Practical Joke or Hoax

62. Join the Mile High Club

63. Make the Front Page of a National Newspaper

64. Drive a Car at Top Speed

65. Shout 'Drinks Are on Me!' in a Pub or Bar

66. Be Part of a Flash Mob

67) Visit...

a) Colosseum, Rome, Italy

b) Uluru, Australia

c) Machu Picchu, Peru

d) The Pyramids at Giza, Egypt

e) Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

f) Sydney Harbour, Australia

g) Taj Mahal, Delhi, India

h) Great Barrier Reef, Australia

i) Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

j) Grand Canyon, Arizona

k) Angor Wat, Cambodia

l) The Great Wall of China

68. Save Someone's Life

69. In Various Languages, Learn to...

70. Invent a Word That Makes it into the Dictionary

71. Have Adventurous Sex

72. Have Enough Money to Do All the Things on This List

73. Stand on the International Date Line

74. Learn to Fly a Plane

75. Get a Tattoo and/or a Piercing

76. Invent Something

77. Learn Astronomy and Read the Night Sky

78. Drink a Vintage Wine

79. Answer a Personal Ad

80. Spend Christmas on the Beach

81. Get Barred From a Pub or Bar

82. Build Your Own House

83. Skinny Dip at Midnight

84. Sell All Your Junk on eBay and Make a Profit

85. Visit the World's Tallest Buildings

a) Burj Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirate

b) Russia Tower, Moscow, Russia

c) Freedom Tower, New York

d) Taipei 101, Taiwan

e) Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China

f) International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong

g) Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

h) Sears Tower, Chicago

i) Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China

j) Two International Finance Centre, Hoong Kong

k) Citic Plaza, Guangzhou, China

l) Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China

m) Empire State Building, New York

n) Central Plaza, Hong Kong

o) Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

86. Run a Marathon

87. Conquer Your Fear

88. Get Married Unusually

89. Throw Away the Instant Noodles

90. Join the 16-Mile High Club

91. Publish a Cult Website

92. Own an Original Work of Art

93. Complete the Monopoly Board Pub Crawl

94. Get Something Named After You

95. Get Revenge

96. Be an Extra in a Film

97. Live Out of a Van

98. Go on a Demonstration

99. Confess

100. Reach 100 Years of Age

101. Continue Your Gene Pool