Life recently

Why hello there! It has been a while, hasn't it? Well, I have been busy planning my wedding and life in general, plus I didn't feel like blogging. I was actually thinking about cancelling the blog, yet I thought about it and decided to abandon it for a while. So here I am and I'm going to provide some information about how was my summer, wedding and stuff.
First of all, I didn't get my degree yet (booo!) but I promise I'm working on it. As for summer vacation, to be honest, there wasn't any. I've been at work plus we were dealing with a problem at my now-husband's job which resolved into him leaving the position and then there was the wedding. I must say I had good days and bad days. I had two fights with my mum, first one was about her not caring at all about her daughter's wedding, the other one came a couple weeks later, was even worse and was all about her interfering too much in the preparations. But we did figure out the best amount of interest in the wedding and since then everything went fine. Actually the closer we were to the big day, the calmer I was. The day before I calmed down my sister, who freaked out about not being able to do my hair and make up properly. I said I trust her and even if it did turn out badly, I am still marrying the man. In the morning, every woman in the house was anxious, as we didn't have enough time, and there were like six ladies and only one bathroom. Well we did it. And I must say it was beautiful! I didn't hear the guitarist's playlist before the ceremony, yet when I entered the church with my dad and heard it, I thought "That's it, that's perfect.". Ales's parents showed up (well, his mum and sister, father stayed home, as he doesn't agree with his son's leaving the Jehova's witnesses), which is a big deal considering the fact that only a week before we thought they wouldn't come.

 The ceremony was short and sweet, we were the most beautiful couple, the weather turned out fine, so our photos are marvellous and the evening party? Best ever! The night was quite warm and I managed to keep my dress on till the early morning (I put a white sweater on at midnight and a coat at two in the morning). There was enough food and drinks for everyone but we had almost no leftovers to deal with. Everyone had fun, there were no fights and no scenes, the dj was great (fyi, there was no dj, we spent four hours putting a playlist together which would be great and yeah, it was - actually, do you know the feeling when you're at the party and they just play your favourite song and you're like "Yaaay, I love this song!"? Well, the playlist was all our favourite songs). We went home at half past six, when all beer but three bottles was gone. Waking up at noon with a terrible hangover was a bit of a disappointment, however, we had everything we could wish for, no disasters, no fights no nothing.  I had two outfits. One wedding gown for the ceremony, lunch and a photo shoot and a white dress for the party. Only one pair of shoes though(they were brand new and well, dancing in the garden all night took its toll).

We did use some of the wedding gifts to buy a new refrigerator (funny story, when we brought it up to the third floor and after unwrapping it we found out it was completely broken on the inside, and then the delivery guys had to bring it back down and then it took like two weeks to solve the issue but now it's here, beautiful and working)and a new computer. We wanted to wait longer but sadly our pc broke down three weeks ago and it is a bit difficult solve things like internet banking on a tablet.
Right now I have several jobs, am still at school and trying to figure my life out. I've lost like 15cm on my waist before the wedding so I'm trying not to gain any weight any time soon. I stil sew and read a lot, but more bout my life later. Now I'm off to the museum (work again...)

How to cook: Salmon fillet with spring potatoes

Every once in a while I feel an incredible lust for fish. Sometimes I just need one so badly! I love getting a fresh one from the fishery, but sometimes I get a salmon or a mackerel. The only downside is that Ales doesn't like them! I make delicious recipes from fish and he does not fully appreciate these (not that he wouldn't eat it, but it's a waste of delicious meal), so I usually make something else for him. As for this recipe, it's nothing special but it's simple and tastes pretty good.

For two portions you need:
2 salmon fillets
4 middle-size potatoes
1-2 spoons of fine white flour
spoon of oil
chive
2-3 spoons of butter
oregano, basil, savory, thyme, salt, pepper

First peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces and put them in the water to boil. Wash the fillets, and coat them with the mix of flour, herbs, pepper and salt and let them rest for like 10 minutes. Then preheat a pan with the oil and roast the fish from both sides. Meanwhile you should melt the butter. In theory you should be finished with all three ingredients at the same time, so all you need to do now is to put everything aside, drain the potatoes and then mash them a bit, add butter and freshly cut chive and serve.

What I've been up to

Lately I've been so into my Social Studies finals! Ok, truth is I was not studying as much as I'd like to, as I was working quite a lot. You can say that being a guide at a museum is no real hard work and sometimes you'd be right - there are days that are full of reading, gossipping and coffee-drinking and then there are days when I manage to have a ten-minute lunch at two p.m. (which I luckily bought in the morning and just heated it in the microwave), run up those horrid stone stairs like 40 times and then just crawl out of the door in the end. Anyway, I love doing it. I love English-speaking groups, which none of my colleagues want, because I keep in touch with the language and some of these are really fun to guide.
Some time ago I mentioned trying to buy more local products and less prefabricates. I continue to do that, plus I've been more careful with my money. Not that I spend too much money on things I don't need. It's just that I'm not able to save anything. The more I earn, the more I spend and at the end of the month there's nothing! And I'd love to save some money for bigger stuff, like a nice set of kitchen knifes. So I started writing shopping lists and sticking with it. I stopped buying clothes every time I feel like it. I try to plan the meals in advance - it had happened to me several times that right after bringing home groceries for a month I had no idea what I'm about to cook! I'm making some progress and I hope I'm gonna be a real housewife!
Back to the local products - not only that I keep getting meat from the butcher and fish from the fishery, I also decided to help myself to some home-made stuff. In the following weeks I'm making a elderberry syrup (I done that two years ago - delicious!), also I plan to get some fruits from the market in the summer and make my own apricot jam and later, pickled cucumbers and cheese. But this week I was devoted to making the best pate ever! Ok, maybe not but definitely one that has great taste and there are no artificial thingies. My first attempt turned out pretty good - I "only" made a kilogramme of it, gave a quarter of it as a sample to my parents - and now it seems like I'll be making more for my entire family soon enough, as they managed to eat their sample the very first day and I have only one more glass left. I call it a success!
Do you have any more ideas about what should I try to make at home? I'm thinking of making these but my cats might not enjoy it as much as I would...

OUTFIT: Trust Me

 The sun's shining and I am working nine to five. Not only indoors but in a dungeon! Ok, I am exaggerating but I do work as a guide in medieval underground so not that much. The job's great and with all the free time I would have these days it's great to keep myself busy. Plus, most of the part time workers are from high school and they still have to attend classes until the end of June, so these days there is still more work for those like me, which I appreciate, really. In May, museum is mostly visited by kids (school field trips) and foreigners, mostly German and Scandinavian (sorry, I do not ask about their origin and all I can tell is that they are either Swedish, Danish or Norwegian) and sometimes Korean. I'm one of the few guides who is fluent in English and therefore capable of making the whole tour in English without difficulties, thus I get most of the foreign groups (this doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, I do, try talking to bunch of native speakers in your second language). Which also means I sometimes enjoy the tips. Some colleagues complain about the Czechs not giving any. But the answer to that is quite obvious - first, there is nothing special to be in your country guided through a museum in your country's language. On the other hand, having a guide who speaks to you in your native tongue in a foreign country or at least using a language you comprehend while you didn't pay extra money for such service, is a pleasant thing and some people like to let the guide know they appreciate it. I know I would do that. And one more thing. The tip is nice but it is not expected, we are not a restaurant. I get paid and I like the job. I do like being appreciated for the effort - as I do try my best to keep the visitors happy - but a simple thank you is quite enough.

Do you tip at museums or similar facilities? What are the conditions the guide has to meet in order to receive a tip?

Outfit:

long cardigan, thrifted, 

grey tee, Fishbone, 

black jeans, thrifted, 

shoes, thrifted, 

bucket bag, off-brand, 

watch, Geneva, 

sunglasses, off-brand, 

necklace, off-brand, 

OUTFIT: Grey Leopard

My only two items with leopard print are worn in this outfit. No animal was harmed during the photo shoot. I was never into animal prints, but I begin to like these. Leopards, I mean. I still hate zebra or snake imitation. I wasn't  big fan of fur either. I mean, leather yes, fur no. Am I a hypocrite?
Is it wrong to eat meat and yet be against animal testing or animal cruelty? Is it wrong to have a 20 year old leather handbag and not approve of wearing real fur? These days it seems like you have to choose between the two. You can't stay somewhere in the middle. Probably because people don't know what to think about you when they can't put you in a box. So I'm starting a moderate movement. What's that about, you ask?
Look, I do eat meat and dairy products. I do not buy frozen meat ever and in most cases I only buy meat from local butcher or local fishery. As for eggs, I stopped buying those that come from cages and I usually buy milk from a milk-o-matics (there's a farmer and a businessman in the town, that has three milk dispensers and three times a day you can get fresh milk - I mean real one, that smells like milk and you can even collect cream from the top!). As for clothes, leather is leather. And no vegan leather lasts as long as real leather (or I havent met such material yet!). Anyway, I assume that the thick pigskin I get my bags made of come from a pig that was... well how to put it nicely... fully used. When you kill an animal, you should use the most of it, so the life you ended isn't wasted. So It's not fur or zebra leather I'm against, It's just that I think that animal had to die for you to have a nice coat or so. See the point I'm making here? No? Ok, I'll stop now and keep talking about how I hate and love clothes...

 Outfit: 

grey coat, thrifted, 

grey shirt, Freshmade, 

leopard tank top, thrifted, 

blue pants, thrifted, 

Chelsea boots, Baťa, 

crossbody bag, off-brand,

sunglasses, Gate, 

necklace, Kik