Category: everyday life

My Granddaughter Is Two!

Today my granddaughter Nadia turned two. We celebrated her birthday on Sunday in Madison, Wisconsin. The guests were just her closest relatives and closest friends, but it was still a little bit overwhelming for a two-year-old. Anna created an airplane birthday cake, which took a lot of designing and planning, and lots of decorating effort.

After all the presents were opened and enjoyed, my daughter, Anna gave a short speech, in which she said that she is so thankful that through all two years of Nadia’s life there was not a moment, when she wasn’t loved and taken care of. And that she, Anna, is thankful for that.

That was one of many recent moments when I thought to myself: how fortunate it is that I decided to go to America twenty-three years ago! How lucky Anna is that she came along! How fortunate Nadia is that she was born to such a loving family, with so many relatives adoring her. And how this all might never happen, and I wouldn’t even know that something had not happened!

Happy birthday Nadezhda! Happy parenting, John and Anna!

Anna is decorations Nadia’a birthday cake

Getting Organized

Good morning to all my long-time followers! Were you ever wondering looking at the pretty pictures of my breakfasts, how in the world do I have time to make them so pretty on the weekday mornings? This mystery is being revealed! To make my mornings relatively rush free and have a good start of the day, I prepare everything the night before!

That’s how my kitchen table looks like before I head upstairs for the night:


My cup and my plate are set on the table, my percolator is filled with water and coffee, ready to be plugged in, my vitamins and supplements are out so that I won’t forget to take them, and also all my food is sitting in the fridge ready to be consumed, I just need to take it out

Yes, I spent some additional time in the evening to pre-arrange everything, but it is worth it, and make my mornings just fabulous!

Oh, and in case you are wondering – the chocolates are in the small glass jar 🙂

Opening The Season With Bike Palatine Club

This biking season had started late and is unfolding slowly due to the extreme weather conditions (maybe we should consider it to be “normal” now, but I still hold hope it’s an “extreme”). I love going on casual rides with Bike Palatine Club because I am “geographically challenged” and otherwise won’t dream of going on a ride to explore new places by myself. Riding with a group makes me feel secure, and also it always feels so good to hear people greeting you by name, isn’t it?

Last Thursday it was the first time since the casual rides started this season when 1) the weather was good 2)I didn’t have anything else doing on on Thursday evening 3) I could leave work s little bit earlier. All these activities: getting on the right train, getting home, getting changed, munching on something, and getting to Mike’s bike shop by 6-30 are carefully timed, not a minute to spare.

With the ride itself, plus getting there and getting back home it’s 1 hour and 40 minutes of joy, and I was so glad I was able to make it!

Going 100% Reusable

I’ve started to switch to reusable “everything” last fall, slowly trying one new thing after another and making sure they are easy to use, and I really need them. And looks like the past week was my first week of 100% reusable – bags, wrapping, etc.

Reusable grocery bags

Granted, I’ve used only reusable shopping bags way before that, but in September I’ve tried reusable produce bags – and loved them.

Then came reusable wax wrapping paper, then – silicon lids,

Silicon lids

and then – all sorts of bags. I’ve tried several different kinds of silicon and non-silicon bags, which could be used instead of ziplock bags, big and small. The most challenging task was to find the bags which I could use to take my lunch to work – they had to be leak-proof, and durable enough to survive my commute to the city. After several tries, I am finally happy with my solution:




Of cause I still use plastic from time to time, for example, when I pack something for people to take with them, or when I would occasionally forget my bags at home. But this is a negligible number of bags. Interestingly, I never thought I will be so happy with the notion of me going green, and so proud of being able to do so!