Nearly ever morning Matthijs and I take a walk in the nearby Schothorst Park. We start our walk at around 07:30 and take half an hour with quick strides to make a round, a somewhat different route every day. We hear and see lots of birds. There's a great many tits (meesjes) in the park, jackdaws (kauwen), doves (duiven), blackbirds (merels), sparrows (mussen), ducks (jup, eenden) and woodpeckers (spechten). We usually only hear the latter one and seldom spot it, though we did see one a few days ago and it was a great spotted woodpecker (grote bonte specht). However, this morning we heard a mocking laughter and we just did not manage to see the owner of that voice. So I looked it up online and it is very likely that it was a green woodpecker (groene specht)!

I crocheted a pair of rainbow fingerless gloves, without a pattern (!), and it has already gotten favorited 5 times in 3 days on Cut Out & Keep (the only online community I'm in). I enjoy wearing them because their colors make me happy. They still don't prevent my hands from getting cold behind my computer but they 'warm my heart'. :p

I got a mail from Cut Out & Keep that they want to make me a featured member. So I sent them the answers to their regular questions and some photos of our crafting room in the attic. On May 26th I'll be a featured member, probably drawing more visitors to my projects. Hhmmm... this reminds me that I still need to take some decent pictures of my new belly dance outfits to post there.

Matthijs is making a new winter coat, on my insistence. The old one is worn out and faded. The new one is also made of warmer fabrics (outer layer of wool instead of some canvas like fabric) and it is black with neon green! I have assisted in making piping cord, preparing the pockets and making a matching beanie (muts). I'm going to make some matching gloves too, so he'll be completely prepared for... spring.. :p It feels really good to be sewing again, apparently I was in need of a new project.

Upcoming fun stuff: wet felting the second glove for Sibbe member Marieke (in exchange for a pair of needle bound socks), craft day for Amersical this Saturday with in the evening a meeting of some members of our Glee-watching club in Hengelo. Sunday sleeping late and no other plans. Weekend after that (1-2) a balfolk in Amsterdam and Larissa and Dennis come over for dinner on Sunday. Then two weekends of obligatory stuff (rehearsal for Amersical, NPC day Xenophobia, Xeno logistics planning day) then Xenophobia itself and the weekend after that, finally, the Dansstage in Enschede! I was in on time and we've got a room at the Logica Hotel.

Life's good.

...oh so pretty, I'm so pretty and witty and gay*. * Meaning 'happy' in this case.... song text from West Side Story. And here's why I feel that way:

When I look in the mirror I see a slim woman. Nice shapes.
• I feel fit.
• When I look at the videos my mom made at the belly dance performance January 17th I am very proud of how I look and dance.
• Last Friday I got a second set of earring holes in my ears. Felt really weird to decide to get them without consulting anybody (mom, is it ok if I..?) :p
• I got some new fun shirts (t-shirts with funny texts) and they fit nicely. I even look slim in the light blue one.
• Yesterday I ordered a new pair of pants, hopefully they will sit a bit tighter on me than all the other pants I currently own. I also ordered a knitted dress and fake leather leggings. Those leggings are meant for my Amersical character, but if they look and fit ok I might wear them under said dress (if that fits too). Now for some nice heels to go with it all...
• Last Friday I dressed up for a birthday party and got a lot of compliments about my look. I think I should dress up more often.
• I can walk on heels for more than 15 minutes. I even wore them for a whole evening without trouble. Loosing some 13 kilograms of body weight makes all the difference.

I'm currently still/again at 70,5 kg. I have touched the 69 but then the EE weekend happened and the Monday after that I was back at 72. Some strict dieting (and body processes) got me back to 71 on the Friday, but man was I disappointed in myself. Directly after that we had Amersical rehearsal weekend. I got myself a salad instead of going with the fries that were planned for dinner. Good thing I did that, I was the only one with a decent meal that evening. Of course resisting the snacks was rather hard. I substituted the yellow M&Ms with dates and tangerines, but it was difficult. Rest of the week saw me hardcore dieting again (below 1500 calories a day even) but I only lost 0,5 kg.

There was a time that I was aiming for 65 kg, but now I think I should try to stay around 70, seeing how much effort it costs to get below that. Perhaps this is where my body should be and frankly, when I look in the mirror I'm rather happy with how I look. Matthijs has joked that he'd need to 'stop me' or soon there would be nothing left of me. Of course there's still some fat on my belly that I'd rather loose, but that is not how it works. Everything is getting smaller and, in all my vanity, I do not want to loose more in the chest area. ;-) So, if I manage to loose more weight and drop just below 70 that would be nice, but if I don't and don't gain any weight I'd be happy too. I measured my waist yesterday (smallest part of upper body): 74 cm. That has been 86 at some point!