2015 - What did you bring?

As one year ends it is almost mandatory to make this post. And if not to post, then for the very least think about what the year has been about!

For me, this year has been one of the most stressful years of my life for various reasons from work and university to personal life. However, there have been amazing moments as well, and as I want to remember the good, this is a nice way to be thankful and reflect back on all the positive moments from 2015.

1) Events!

2015 started with a big party at Crown - as we have done for years by now. Last year, we wanted to do something bigger, so we decorated all the rooms and set all the tables etc. We were also inspired by photo booths - unfortunately we didn't get one for the event, but we made frames to use for pictures as you can have in photo booths. This turned out to be the hit of the party, and it will be forever known as the frame-party.

In between, life carried on pretty basically... Or as it is for anyone in their last year in uni - all of the time you had was consumed by projects, deadlines and hand ins! So there are no very interesting pictures from that time.. Unless you would have wanted to see a bit crazy looking tired no-sleep-for-weeks me, who looks a bit scary to be honest! Or a very messy room. Or the library.

In the summer it was time for my graduation! 4 years of hard work has paid off and I graduated. During my final presentation I felt really good as I believed in my project and its vitality and success. And as it turned out, it was justified as I got a first! Thanks to that I also graduated with a first, so I now have an honours degree in Fashion and Textile Buying Management!

In May, we celebrated S's birthday in London as I planned this as a surprise for him! And also planned a surprise birthday for him in Estonia as well.

2) Work and life update

First half of 2015 was spent travelling back and forth Estonia and UK, and thankfully S travelled with me several times. We also celebrated his birthday in UK, which as very nice!

I had planned to spend my summer in London, but things didn't work out that way. Instead, I had to travel between London and Huddersfield with all my things before I decided to go back to Estonia. In here, I ended up going to Tallinn so often for different reasons, before I landed a job in Baltika. I started applying to several companies, but was offered a job as Assistant Merchandiser for Monton Ladies brand. I didn't really plan on working as a merchandiser, as I wanted to be more in buying or marketing, but as I have been there for 4 months now, I have to say, I have enjoyed this and definitely learnt a lot!

Moving to Tallinn was also a bit hasty as we had to find a flat within a week! We ended up taking one which was really low priced and literally 3 min walk to Baltika. But unfortunately there were loads of hidden problems with the flat so we ended up moving out after 2 months. And had to find another in about a week again! But luckyly we now have a good flat, apart from the fact that it is far from Baltika and I am really not that into the cold... But well, not a real life problem so we will deal with that, haha!

3) Changes

Through the summer I got more and more interested about veganism. As I had been a vegetarian for a year, I decided to try to be a vegan. This has been a big change for me and I haven't said that this will be for forever, but for as long as I feel good and can live my life the way I feel happy. Which is what I feel now. Writing this, maybe this topic needs a post of its own? But anyway, here is a collage of some delicious vegan food photos from this year. And also, I have a plan to start posting one vegan recipe each week! So we will see how that goes. :)

Besides veganism, all the issues this year have thought me so much about myself, what I value and the life I want to live. I had so many plans - I like to have a sort of guideline of what I'm doing or what I want to accomplish. Even if it doesn't end up happening, I want to have a destination or something to work towards. However, most plans in 2015 kept changing, mostly due to other people, so I had no control over the situations. At first it was very scary and I was really stressed, but eventually I learnt that it is up to me to decide what I want to feel. And that it's like a plot twist - something doesn't go as planned? Okay, whats the next step? What happes now? I learnt to be more open to new things and going with the flow with less stress.

I have also learnt not to try to prove myself to everyone. Try to prove I am as cool, as pretty, as smart or whatever. I realised that there is no point in proving myself to people who don't want to see me as I am. There are people who know who I am and people who choose not to and that is fine too. What other's think of me is none of my business and it's not up to me to stress over how to please other people or how to be more liked.

Here's to the end of 2015 and really looking forward to this year being even better!

A very Crown Christmas

Whoooop, at least a second new blog post! This is pogress. Of some sort.

This post is dedicated for a very Crown Christmas so it is a bit of a promotional post? First, I am promoting myself and my photography skills. Ughugh... And secondly I am promotiong Cafe Crown - a small but super cosy and sweet cafe-restaurant in Pärnu. If you are ever in the need for some good food, want to get a proper food baby without losing all your money in the process head straight to Crown!

The cuisine is Estonian, but this doesn't mean there aren't your typical meals such as French Fries, they are just served a bit differently or with a little bit of surprise.

And since it is festive season, I took some festive photos of Crown the other day. Hope you enjoy!

Also check out their Facebook, website and Instagram!

Love,
Maria

Christmas 2015

Hello hey hey!

Okay so let's be honest - I have earned the worst blogger of the year award haven't I? And with that have lost any chance of followers haha. But despite this I am going to write this post and definitely maybe some more. We shall see!

This year Christmas was exceptional! Every year we gather around at my grandads house, have a massive meal, go weird and exchange gifts. This year we did exactly the same. But it was different.

First of all - as me and Silver are vegans now, we had to make sure we had enough to eat! Now we don't bitch with others for what they choose to eat but we want to make sure we also have options. For that we brought vegan chocolate pie and vegan sausages. My aunt had cooked beans and lentils for us as well! So we ended up having amazing potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, lentils, sausages, cranberry sause and pickles... And we were both about to explode before coffee and the pie!

Secondly, when we were kids someone always dressed up as Santa. But as noone has been a kid for a while and there aren't any new babies (where are you all? We need babies in our lives haha), there has been no reason for this. But this year my auntie decided to play Santa when handing out the gifts! This was a major surprise for all of us but such a nice thing.

After spending Christmas at my grandads place my family went to Crown for our own special celebration. We had some water and coffee and set up around the Christmas tree to give our gifts to each other. S played a cheeky elf and distributed all the gifts, everyone read a poem or did a little show to get theirs, we danced around and had a really good time. And to make all of it better, I filmed the whole thing! Yup. This year I decided that instead of taking pictures I would film Christmas. Since my "Life that P won't be getting" video I realised that I have epic video skills (feel free to laugh), but on a more serious note, I really enjoyed it.

So hopefully we will get to see an awesomesauce Christmas video soon. Oh also, by the way, my laptop is broken. So I don't know if I can edit in Silver's or not but we shall see.

Bye for now and I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this (or doesn't) has had the most amazing Christmas this year, however you choose to celebrate!

Love,
Maria

Catch up!

Hey there! So how about a little catch up? When I used to see some old friends for a catch up, I always said let's meet somewhere we can "slouch on a couch". What's better to chill, have some coffee and hear what your friends have been up to?!

So first off, I have actually been really busy. Very typical, but true. What can I say - all year this has been my story haha! First with last year in uni and then the summer. It was spent travelling back and forth to UK and Estonia for graduation and other events. Then trying to figure out what to do next and taking some time off for just resting.

So travelling between two countries switched to travelling between two cities - Tallinn and Pärnu. I was going to job interviews nearly every other day, and luckyly it ended with me getting a job! So let me introduce - I am now the Assistant Merchandiser at Monton. It is amazing. This has been one of the reasons for the lack of blogging (and instagram for that matter!). I wanted to focus 100% on the job as there was (and still is!) so much to learn! I am still learning, but the first few weeks were pretty hectic.

To add, I didn't have a place to live in Tallinn. So after getting the job I spent most of my days commuting about 4 hours every day to see houses and flats. After endless of viewings we found a little place that is, well, about a minute from where I work! Which is amazing. But finding it was not easy, I seriously dislike most real estate agents by now! Why do they not answer their phones, not show up for showing houses?! I don't get it! But luckyly ours was fine and we are now getting settled in.

So hopefully things are about to settle down! Heres hoping.
And also, gladly you are now caught up with what has been happening! Enjoy the autumn and remember to stay positive even in the cold!

- M

UK vol 2 - Liverpool

After graduating we have had a few days to explore UK. We were debating Liverpool and York - I've been to Liverpool twice before, but both don't really count - the first time I was a bit panicky and had two large suitcases, kinda got lost in the city centre and then ran back to Lime street station to get my bus to the airport. Second time I didn't get lost, as I wasn't alone, but it was so cold and windy, I didn't really enjoy the day we spent there.

But as S hadn't been to Liverpool and it seemed to offer more for us to do, we decided to go for it instead of York. Sorrer to everyone who suggested York! Another time :) We really enjoyed the day in Liverpool - just walked around, shopped a little, went to the docks and museums and then wandered back to the city centre and found a cute little pizza place that actually offered vegan pizzas! We were beyond happy for this, as we are trying to make the move towards a plant based diet. So vegan pizzas pretty much made our day. In addition, for about a tenner, we both had 2 slices and beer so it was really cheap as well! Defo recommend.

Weird train selfies

Long vest - Primark

Vegan pizzas in Maguire's Pizza in Liverpool. Check it out!

UK Vol 1 - Hudds and Leeds

So I am back in UK for a bit - for my graduation! But a separate post on that for you. We arrived last week and spent time just chilling around and not really doing anything. It was nice just to be the two of us for a change and not having to get up for something every day, but sleeping in, staying up late. And the best part - it is so calm and relaxing here, no bitching, no drama, no loud voices everywhere.

For S's annoying, I decided we should take a shopping trip to Leeds on Monday. However, he got more things than me, haha! But it was a good day regardless and we found a really nice burger place in Trinity called Hand Made Burgers, and it was really good! The burgers were delicious and the service was quick and very friendly as well. Def a new favourite :)

Obviously true Nero fans - iced soy lattes are life. 

Epic veggie burgers - who needs meat?! Happy vegetarians :) 

Attempting to look all sassy and model like... uhuh, for sure

Top - New Yorker

Bag - Cropp