An ode to some hot guys

I figured with all the madness of the past week or so, a desperate need for some candy has arisen.
And since sugary, real candy is not the most healthful option, let's go with the best possible alternative… eye candy. Because it's been a while since I last posted some hotties, right…

Let's see, shall we:

Robert Downey Jr. He abandoned the bad boy ways, but kept the attitude... Pure. Hotness.

Source

Michael Fassbender. Tall, ginger, half-Irish and supertalented. What's not to love?

Source

Johnny Depp. Nevermind the crazy couture. I'd do him. Any time. No discussion.

Source

Now excuse me, I need to wipe off the drool.

Jules

P.S. The present is just a random selection of some hot actors arranged in no particular order. 
P.P.S. I put on extra large pictures, way wider than normally on the blog. I can't go too large when it comes to hotness, right? 

Textless Thursday (6)

Favicon. Took me long enough to get it to work, but here it is. ℅ M.

Furnished.

My furniture was finally delivered yesterday afternoon. The delivery van was more than an hour late, which annoyed me quite a bit, as I was given a 4-hour delivery window during which the stuff was supposed to arrive, and well, I waited for those 4 hours and then some more. But finally, the phone rang and the boxes started appearing. 

Now it's time for a story of love and hate for IKEA - from it's very start. 

My New York apartment came completely unfurnished. I've rented places before, but they all came either fully or half furnished, limiting the options for decorating etc. This place is the first one for which I had carte blanche to decorate it my way. On a limited budget, but still MY way. Or, to be a bit more honest, the IKEA way ;)

I did a bit of homework before even seeing the apartment. I took advantage of many a cool resource on the internet and got useful tips on how to furnish and decorate a small studio on a budget, but still give it a personal touch. Those tips helped me prepare a looooooong shopping list for IKEA with multiple options for each piece, respective measurements and prices.

The first step last Friday, after cleaning the apartment, was to take a measuring tape and thoroughly measure the apartment. Then I draw a floorplan in scale and made two copies of said floorplan. This helped me remove the redundant pieces from the IKEA shopping list, as I now had precise measurements and a clear vision on how I would arrange the furniture.

Here's the basic idea: full bed parallel to the windows in the right corner, reading corner diagonally opposite, breakfast nook within the kitchen area. Working corner next to the bed by the windows, in the left corner.

Also, the full-sized air bed gave me a nice visual idea on the proportions etc.

Now to the pieces. Given the options, I went for a white-black scheme for the furniture, with blue and turquoise accents. I thought that would go really nicely with the cream color of the walls and the warmth of the hardwood flooring. 

BED: I decided against the classic bed frame + headboard, as I don't really need it and it takes up space and money. Instead, I bought a white foundation to support the mattress and 4 tall legs. It looks really nice and the height is super comfortable. The pictures show a bare bed, but worry not. I do have blue linens on now (they were in the dryer when the picture was taken). To add a bit of privacy and a touch of elegance, I seriously plan on getting a simple hanging canopy net from BedBath&Beyond. I've always wanted one!

A black LACK side table functions as bedside table and a HOLMÖ floor lamp on the other side provides soft lighting. I added a small blue dream catcher on the wall above the bed and a poster of Canova's "Amor and Psyche" from the Louvre. 

READING CORNER: That was a bit of a pickle as I needed the most pieces to complete it. I needed a bookshelf, something soft and plush, a rug and a lamp. Classic sofas take a bunch of space and cost an eye. A friendly blog provided the optimal solution - to get just a part of as sofa, since IKEA sells parts of their modular sofas separately. Enter, a white EKTORP chaise longue, which is the side extension without the armrests. I was not convinced ad first, but after seeing them in the showroom, I was sold. It's soft, pretty and big enough to sprawl with a book in hand. Plus, it fits perfectly in the corner. I added a second HOLMÖ floor lamp, a striped rug and a white 2x2 EXPEDIT bookshelf. I completed the corner with a turquoise blanket and a poster of Hemingway's "A farewell to arms". A black stepladder functions ad a side table to put down the book and coffee. And it will function as a stepladder, too, as I have a really high ceiling and a superhigh top cabinet in the closet. 

EATING AREA: I'm not much of a chef or entertainer, so there is no need to get an enormous dining table or a fancy chopping station. But there is basically no countertop space in the kitchen and I do plan to have people over from time to time, so a breakfast table was a must. But most of all, I needed flexibility. Instead of the classic chairs, I opted for 5 stackable stools that take up very little space, are the perfect high and the color is spot on. 

I also got a free standing mirror that has nice hanging hooks in the back. Those are perfect for my scarves, umbrella and other practicalities. The shape of the mirror is also perfect for hiding the folded ironing board (which photobombed the picture below, but I promise, it indeed lives behind the mirror) and iron. 

I really like how the place looks. There's still a lot of space and I intend to keep it that way. It obviously has that unmissable cookie-cutter-IKEA feel to it, but I still love it. What I didn't love was the not-really-pleasant trip to IKEA and the delayed delivery. I mean, you are given a 4-hour window during which they can show up at any time, but still they manage to be more than one hour late. Luckily, it's over and I have all of my stuff nicely arranged now. I am tempted to say that it was worth the wait, but at the price they charged, I'm not so sure.

Now to the technicalities. 

I decided to do most of the shopping in one single trip, as I am really prone to IKEA fatigue (a.k.a. the "hate" part of this story). Since I also bought a myriad of smaller things, like plates, cutlery, bathroom and closet accessories etc., I kind of ran out of hands, so I decided to purchase the pick&delivery service, in which the IKEA staff gets the furniture from the self-serve area and has it delivered into the apartment. It costs an additional 50 $ (delivery alone is 90 $), but since I was alone, it was the only option and basically, a good investment. 

The assembly service cost another 100 $, which again, was a great deal, as the guy showed up 30 minutes after the delivery guys left and I had all the pieces assembled in 1 hour. 

All in all, the goods + delivery + assembly cost me 1800 dollars. 

Of course, I still need a desk and working chair, as their designated space is empty at the moment, but they are not that urgent. I can easily work elsewhere for the time being and I really didn't want to overstrain my credit card. She, too, suffers from IKEA fatigue :)

These last two pictures carry quite the meaning. The left one was taken during my first meal at the new place - lunchtime sushi picnic on the floor last Friday, when I moved in. The right one is today's breakfast. Eaten at the table and with a view of my furnished and pretty apartment. The difference is quite big. The feeling not so much. It felt like home from the second I stepped into the apartment and it does even more so now, when my stuff is all set up. 

Jules

Business as usual

Oh, Monday.

You did not quite treat me right, did you? You were superhot and stuffy. Not cool, man.

You see, today was my "pre-employment tasks" day. Meaning I had my hands full of paperwork and red-tape stuff. And for a person coming from a tiny university in a tiny town, all the structure and level of automation of the whole process was quite overwhelming. And made me feel quite the idiot on more than one occasion. Plus, it provided enough material for yet another superlong blog post. 

SOTD: Green Day - American Idiot. 

An important thing to note is that my new work place is HUGE. Not only does the main campus occupy 2 whole blocks on the UES, it also has offices and support services scattered around the neighborhood and way down into midtown. Yay. 

First up on the agenda was my medical. I passed with flying colors and got cleared for duty. But still I made sure to cause a moment of awkwardness, thanks to my ancient vaccination card. You see, in Slovenia, the nurse at my doctor's office refused to print out a fresh record of my vaccination history. It is all stored in my electronic file, but she just didn't feel like reading my insurance card and printing it out. Instead, she suggested I just take a copy of that cardboard card that I got when I was born. 31 years ago. With information typed onto it with a typewriter and dates of vaccines stamped onto it, some of them crooked, some faded. Needless to say the nurse who examined me chuckled a little and then needed my help deciphering the information she required. She had translations of the required vaccinations in Slovakian, Serbian, Croatian and Russian. But not Slovenian. Does that mean I'm the first PhD from Slovenia to go to work there?

My second appointment of the day was with Human Resources, 40 blocks downtown from the Employee Health Services. That went smoothly as well, but again, I managed to stir the routine a bit, since that's just who I am. And again, it's because I'm from Slovenia. A country in which every resident is required by law to have medical insurance. I'm covered until the end of this month, but after that, my current insurance will be suspended. So I need a letter form HR confirming that I will have said insurance and I need to send it back to Slovenia so they don't send rude letters to my mum demanding me to get insured. The nice lady at HR said that she will see to that, but still found my request kind of weird. 

My third appointment was for mandatory drug testing. 46 blocks uptown from HR and 14 blocks uptown from home. It was just the basic pee-in-a-cup thing that's required by law for all new hires. I was not the least bit worried about the results. I'm a good girl. What freaked me out was the whole pee-in-a-cup process. The test goes like this: you're given a cup and need to pee 60 mL of pee into it. But after you do that, you're not allowed to flush the toilet or wash your hands. You first need to give the cup to the lab person and only after she decants 30 mL of your pee into a fresh vial, you are allowed to pour the rest into the toilet, toss the original cup into the biohazard bin, flush and finally wash your hands. Needless to say, that was one of the grossest things I ever did. Can you imagine? Hundreds of people pee in those cups and then touch the doorknobs, taps, you name it with those pee-splattered hands. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Yuck! I went home and showered and then took a nap.

My fourth and last appointment of the day was later in the afternoon at the Security office. I was instructed by HR to to go there ASAP in order to get my ID badge. That is one of the things I am really excited about. I had a bit of trouble finding the Security office, as the building where it is located is some sort of maze. But when I did, the first thing I was asked was when was my start date. I said next Monday. The guy said "no can do". Then he kindly explained that HR insists on sending people over to him as soon as they're done with the hiring process, but for most of those people, their information doesn't get uploaded into his system prior to their first day. And uploading people's data is one of the things HR is responsible for. So, no ID badge for me today. Bummer. 

He was very nice and genuine and told me that he's been trying to talk sense into HR for the past 6 months, but to no avail. Actually, I felt like he was the only TRULY nice person I dealt with today. Everybody was nice and helpful, but mostly they were "professionally" nice, as being nice is clearly part of their job description. This guy was just plain cool. I guess I'll have a blast with him once we get to the point of getting me that ID badge.

Now I'm sitting at a coffee shop having a double espresso relaxing after this rather mad day. 

Tomorrow is IKEA madness (delivery + assembly day). And on Wednesday, my New York vacation can finally begin. Well, after I manage to apply for a Social Security number. 

Oh, well…

Jules

Sem doma!**

I moved into my apartment on Friday morning. A beautiful studio on the 5th floor of a mid rise building on the Upper East Side that’s way bigger than expected. 

SOTD: Billy Joel - Uptown Girl. I'm no Upper East Side princess, but I guess I do live Uptown :)

After wrestling myself into the building, I enlisted the help of a cute neighbor because the locks work wrong on this side of the Atlantic and thus I had huge trouble letting myself into the place. Luckily, S. helped and before I knew it, I was home*. 

I took a really good look at the place and  decided it needed a good scrubbing before I even start unpacking. So I found the nearest Duane Reade and bought a bunch of cleaning supplies plus some other basics. Then, I stopped at the grocery store across the street and got some fruit, sushi for lunch and a dozen white roses to celebrate the occasion.  

Back home, I lit a scented candle and enjoyed my sushi picnic feeling pretty good about myself. The afternoon was spent cleaning and organizing clothes, followed by a few more shopping trips. I collapsed onto my airbed around midnight. Tired, but way happy.

Saturday morning was even greater. After a surprisingly comfortable sleep, I made myself my first coffee in my bisnona’s caffettiera and had poptarts for breakfast while reading a book. Weirdly, although the apartment is still completely unfurnished, it really feels like home. I just love the sky light and the huge windows and the tiny kitchen nook and… Ohh…

The rest of the day was spent at Ikea. The joys…

But more on the Ikea shopping trip and how to furnish a studio later on.

Jules

P.S. I don't have an internet connection yet, so this (and supposedly the next few) post(s) are brought to you by Starbucks on the corner of 75th and 1st. Cheers to that. But I'm working on that internet thingie. I'm not that big a fan of Starbucks. 

* By now, I know how to operate the locks and don’t need any more help getting in.

** Superintensive course in the slovenian language: "sem doma" means "I'm home". And boy, home I am!!!

Textless Thursday (5)

Thoughtful gift.

First day

Today was a beautiful day.
Perfect weather, perfect mood.

After a VERY good night's sleep, I jumped right at work.

Errand #1: Thorough repack of luggage. 

It needed serious reorganization. Now the big suitcase contains all the stuff that I won't need until the move into my apartment. Thus, I was able to put it in hostel storage, so it stays out of the way and there's no risk for my cool coffee mug to get chipped.

The small one is now filled with a couple of outfits, toiletries etc. that I need on a daily basis and is stored neatly in my locker in the hostel room. Again, out of the way. 

I've lived in clutter for the past 6 months, so pardon the neat freakery, it's just that it feels SO GOOD to be organized. 

Errand #2: Secure the Delta voucher online.

Our transatlantic flight was awesome and we had the best flight attendant ever. But there was a glitch in the entertainment system that they were not able to fix in flight. I had plenty of backup (kindle, music, laptop), so was not really bummed by the lack of freshest movies. But KLM felt so bad that they offered us 50 $ Delta vouchers. YAY!

Errand #3: Breakfast. 

I figured an awesome doughnut + iced coffee would do the trick for my first NY breakfast. Enter, Doughnut Plant on 23rd street (right by the entrance of the Chelsea Hotel). I had the AMAZING coconut lime yeast doughnut. Fresh, summery and oh so good. 

Errand #4: Purchase money orders.

The central USPS office is half a block uptown, so I figured I should just buy the goddamn money orders for rent and security deposits. So. I walk in, sort the thing easy and then swipe my Visa DEBIT card. No worky. Turns out, this goddam card is recognised as a credit, not debit card. It says DEBIT on the card, but the machine at the Post office read credit and didn't want to accept it. Again, I felt the oh-so-familiar panic. NOT AGAIN!!!

The very nice lady advised me to go check with a bank if I could get cash from my card and come back to her to pay for the money order in cash. Off I went. Bank no. 1 does not do cash advances. But the teller lady was nice enough to refer me to bank no. 2, which does. And did. To top off my luck, bank no. 2 was right next to bank no. 1 and both of them were just a block from USPS. 

Let me re-explain the whole thing. No wire transfer of money for my apartment. Money orders. Jules thought: buy money order, pay with debit, bring money order to housing office, sign lease, get keys.   No can do. Jules does: go to bank, withdraw cash, buy money order, pay with cash, bring money order to housing office yada yada yada.  

AFTER ALL OF THAT I DESPERATELY NEEDED A DRINK. And it was only 1 PM.

SOTD: JK Soul - Get over it.

Errand #5: Venture into K-mart to get an air bed.

There's a K-mart two blocks from my hostel, so I figured I would just buy a freaking air bed here so I don't end up sleeping on the floor when I move into the apartment on Friday. I absolutely intend to get a proper bed as soon as I get the keys to the place, but there's no way it will be delivered in time for my first night there. Enter, air mattress.

Errand #5: Phone.

Because who doesn't want to pay 60 $ plus tax to get unlimited texts and call and data  + unlimited calls to foreign LANDLINES, but not cell phones. Right? :)

Errand #6: Grom.

The best ice cream on Earth is present in NYC, which makes me a very happy girl. Downing a cup of albicocca and lampone sorbetto while lounging on the grass in Central park is quite a nice way enjoy the new place while still keeping in touch with the old one. 

Jet lag is creeping up on me and I guess it's time to go to bed. 

Good night,

Jules

P.S. Don't you dare comment on the fact that I regard a doughnut-based beakfast and ice cream in the Park as errands. They are of vital importance ;)

Ocean? Crossed!

Landed in New York.

Going to bed. Eventually.

Gone west I have. New York I love.
But also Koper, where this pic was taken.

But first, a beer and some blogging.

Actually I originally didn't plan a verbose post, but New York tricked me. 

Want to know the first look I got of the city tonight? 

The sky was grey and heavy with clouds after a thunderstorm, the runways at JFK covered in puddles. But right there, westward, directly above the tip of the Empire State Building, a HUGE, eye-shaped, sunray-streaked flaming orange strip of sunset with the orangey rays reflecting from the puddles on the tarmac. Took my breath away. 

Well played, Gotham. Well played.

G' night.

Jules

p.s. No photo of the fantastic sunset. We were still in the plane, taxiing towards our gate. The attendant would probably react violently to my attempt of documenting said weather phenomenon. Better luck next time. 

Cheesefest

Day -1. AKA I leave tomorrow. 

Which obviously means that my farewell party happened yesterday. 

And what a party it was. 

Beachside, rum-infused, and filled with an awesome soundtrack. And there was this fantastic dark chocolate+orange cake topped with an edible version of the Statue of Liberty. And perfectly thoughtful gifts. Small (due to shipping reasons) but nothing short of perfect. All completely in sync with the people who brought them, which makes them that more cherishable. 

Like the tee pictured below, for example. 

You see, I have this HUGE girl crush for Tard, hence the deep love for this tee, designed by my homegirl M.

What's not to love, eh?

BEST. GOODBYE. GIFT. EVER.

Most of my people came to see me and the atmosphere was so bittersweet. My heart was on the verge of exploding. I love those guys and gals endlessly. 

It was a warm and fuzzy summer afternoon and night and I'm happy that everybody had a good time. 

Being the center of attention never truly bothered me, this time it was just plain awesome. I felt so loved in those moments. Hugging and kissing the ones that mean the most to me as they were progressively leaving was equal parts sad and gratifying. Now, this is going to sound really lame, but bear with me here, ok? You see, drinking in all that gooey fluffy pinky sweetness ℅ friends and family was the BEST possible kind of therapy in this weird time. It healed all those dark feelings that have been lurking around the back corners of my stupid brain. 

I feel relieved, happy and super excited for tomorrow and all the tomorrows in New York. And a bit sleepy, too.

SOTD: The National - All the wine. Because the lyrics are awesome. 

Well. Since this time tomorrow, I'll be in my new home city, let me just change the description of the blog. Up until today it said "Occasional musings from a soon-to-be transatlantic transplant". I'm dropping the "soon-to-be" and switching to "rookie" to honour the occasion. YAY NEW YORK!!!

Time to go to bed now. 

Sweet dreams, folks.

Jules

A quickie reality check

As said before, these past few days have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. I feel dizzy. 

In this state, it is pretty easy to forget WHY THE HELL AM I DOING THIS in the first place.

Sometimes, taking a minute to breathe and listen to a complete stranger's words might work miracles. 

Here goes my miracle:

Fly Girl's Letter to the girl(s) moving to New York City

It says it all. Off I go in 4 days, people!

IS IT TIME TO FREAK OUT YET?

These past days have been tough.

There's been major anticipation (read: nervousness/worrying/desperation) in the housing department.

There's been major panic in the logistics department.

There's been A LOT of errands to run, paperwork to sort.

There's been a fun trip to the dentist. And I really mean fun. My dentist is a really cool guy.

There's been this chocking feeling of loneliness. 

I'm surrounded by awesome friends and family, yet I've never felt so alone in my whole life. 

The most absurd thing is, right now I'm not worried about the big things, like how am I going to perform at work or how am I going to survive on my salary. Oh no, no, no. 

My neurotic self is obsessing over totally different things. And the funniest part is, the rational bit of my brain knows EXACTLY what is going to happen and how it will all be managed (it will be awesome, because that's how we roll, trust me!). It just KNOWS that the moment I buckle up in that seat on that plane, 90 % of this nonsense will be over. There won't be a way back, no time for substantial rethinking or redoing. Freaking out will be totally useless. What will be will be. 

SOTD: Sly and the Family stone - Que sera sera. Just as a reminder.

Thing is, after a way too long wait, I got news that I was assigned an awesome studio apartment that I will somehow be able to afford without starving to death. YAY institute-subsidized housing in Manhattan!!!!!!

Lucky me, right? No sketchy real-estate brokers, no rip-off fees, no weird-ass roommates, no commute from the back-arse of nowhere. Perfect, right? Right? Not so fast, my dears...

I need to pay for the first month's rent and for my security deposit. Standard. What is not that standard is, I cannot wire the money from my existing bank account. They only accept cheques (which do not exist anymore in more or less all of Europe) or money orders (which I cannot purchase in my home country). Needless to say, today I fell to pieces because of that. You see, there is an apartment. There is money for said apartment. There just ISN'T a way to connect the two. Jeesh. America basically invented cash-free methods of payment and the internet, but still, in 2013, I will be using a medieval means of transferring funds. People at my bank all but laughed at me when I asked them about my options. Cheques? Are you kidding me?

Oh, well. 

Lucky for me, my mum was there, she sat me down, fed me lunch and talked me out of the meltdown. She helped get my shit together, so I fired up Google and got to work. Thank god I found a solution. Which will include multiple trips to the US Postal Service and an outrageous abuse of my present debit card plus a hefty commission. BUT it will get me the keys to my own slice of Manhattan!!! 

Win!

The rest of the day was spent shopping for the farewell party and a bit of packing. Which is another freakout-inducing activity, but I guess you ran out of freakout tolerance for today. Oh, and the apartment is unfurnished. God bless IKEA. 

Textless thursday (4)

Brand new ink, designed and executed by Iva. Thanks, girl! 

New management

Today marks the second week-o-versary of a sad sad day when I transfered ownership of my cute little car to mother.

Gosh, I love my little twingo to pieces and yes, keeping him in the family is great - I will still drive him when I come visit (YAY!), but I still feel a pang when thinking about the fact that he's not officially mine anymore. Although I am still somehow the designated driver, someone else is in charge now. Weird. 

SOTD: Knight Rider opening credits :p

I know, I know, he's no supermodern hi-tech wonder and is about the size of a common coffee grinder, but he's just the perfect car for me. A bit sporty-looking, but still totally girly. And boy, does he take long road trips well. 

The "red dart" as some like to call him. 

So, here's to my ex-car. May his life in my mother's trustworthy hands be just as cool as it was in mine and trips to the repair shop as scarce as possible :)

Jules

P.S. That, friends, is how you resolve the issue of your biggest (in terms of size, of course) earthly possession before a transatlantic move. Just give it to your mother, she'll know what to do. 

Springy microby air...

Saw this comic posted on I fucking love Science a couple of days ago. The original image belongs to the geniuses over here, though. Needless to say, my inner microbiologist flipped and sang a happy tune. My outer self just laughed. Hard. 

SOTD: Air - Biological.

It's quirks like that that made me fall in love with the life sciences many years ago. 

Of course, now I am a molecular/cell biologist by trade, but in my heart, I'll always be a microbiologist - got a BSc in microbiology from the University of Ljubljana in 2006 (Shit, has it been THAT long???).

The program itself changed, as it's now a 3+2 formula, whereas we did the 4+1 thing back in my day. Why am I talking about this and ruining the nerdy joke in the comic? Because microbes rock AND this year marks the 20th anniversary for the undergrad programme in Microbiology at my alma mater. They are putting together a big celebration and aiming at reuniting most of the alumni and the teaching staff. Which I'll sadly miss because I'll be busy conquering Manhattan.

Us microbiologists are just cool like that, you know, conquering fancy cities and all...

Jules

Closing the door.

My oh my, it has arrived.

MY LAST DAY AT THE OLD JOB.

Source

After gradually shutting down lab work, cleaning my desk and shelves in the office, clearing the paperwork and backing up all the data on my computer, that's it.
All I had to do today is cut up a giant goodbye apple strudel (℅ of my amazing mother) and feed it to my colleagues.

But first, a quick trip down memory lane… hmmmm… I've started my first job at fourteen, worked many different temp ones in between and then took this one in 2007. My first real, big girl gig.

This is the place where I grew up professionally, learned how to be a scientist and a teacher and figured out where I want my life to go. Six years, endless hours, wonderful people, eight SCI papers and one PhD, many funny happenings, the occasional "entitled" student that annoyed the shit out of me and whatnot.

Now it's time to turn the page. It certainly feels like the end of an era. And the beginning of a shiny new adventure.

SOTD: Dire Straits - Brothers in arms.

Cheers to that!
And thanks to everyone at work.
Especially my amazing boss. You rock, chief!!!

Pretty PINK flowers, chocolate, pocket money (both $ and € so I can come back) and a lot of warm wishes from everyone at work.

Jules

P.S. I'm wearing my official Lady Gaga "I'm a free bitch" t-shirt today. To work. Because today, I can.  

Textless Thursday (3)

Lovely swallows, Rakitovec (Slovenia).

Luggage-related shenanigans

14 days to go.

14!!!!!

So, it's only logical that my intermittent control-freakery is letting itself be felt a bit more substantially than it has in the past. SO. MANY. THINGS. TO. DO.

Yesterday after work I treated myself to an afternoon stroll, gorgeous smoothie and a reading session on a bench with a view of sailboats and sea. It was the perfect intro to calm myself before some medical paperwork-related errands that needed to be dealt with. I won't even go into how unnerving slovenian bureaucracy is. Yuck!

SOTD: Frank Sinatra - Come fly with me. Easy.

After that yucky task was (half-successfully, damn it!) completed, I took a deep breath and leisurely strolled down the main shopping street in the old town and, completely casually, walked into a luggage/handbag store. The same one where my HUGE dark red suitcase was purchased about 5 years ago, completely on a whim. Despite it being an impulse purchase, I've never even remotely regretted that investment. It's more of a high quality piece of luggage. I believe that at my age and with the amount of traveling I do, quality luggage is a must.

Newest family member (right) sitting next to the old big brother and the baby :)

And guess what?

My eye got immediately drawn towards their stock of dark red carry-ons.

Needless to say, I bought one. And needless to say, I did not opt for the one on sale, but the one that was not on sale, but is a lighter and more compact model. I still think I made a very good purchase. On a whim, just like five years ago. I just hope this new piece of luggage will serve me just as well as its older, bigger brother did (an still does).

Here's to many new adventures and loads of frequent flyer miles, suitcases!

Jules

P.S. If you remember my rant about Delta and their additional luggage fees, I must explain that this last purchase was motivated mostly by the fact that I decided not to invest in a new BIG suitcase and opt to use snail mail instead. Which, naturally, gave me carte blanche to buy a fancy new carry-on. Which I did. Yay!

Well played, Monday.

Last week on the job. Obviously, a lot of wrapping up and not really much else are on the menu.

SOTD: U2 - Beautiful day. What else?

Aaaaaand... Today's view from the terrace outside the lab is just about making my day!

Gulf of Trieste and all the way to Grado, Italy, and the Alps further north.

How's your Monday treating you? 

Jules

The bare essentials

Girly. And pretty much on the go all the time. 

Ergo, there's a substantial need for me to carry a few "essentials" with me. Like a survival kit or something. And of course, as all girly girls will understand this, said survival kit needs to be neatly stashed in a chic little bag. 

SOTD: Skint and Demoralised - Red Lipstick.

Care to take a peek in my chic little survival kit bag? Well, you are welcome, my darlings.

1) The chic little bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs Pretty mini (2012).
It's the perfect compact size and shape to hold A LOT of stuff and still fit into the vast majority of my handbags. Love the nautical stripes with that unexpected touch of hot pink. And love the softly padded but sturdy material and giant zipper. Needless to say, it's been a favourite for the past year with no intention of changing that.

2) Perfect touchup: L'Oreal LUMI Magique concealer/highlighter.
Basically, this baby is the poor woman's reply to the cult YSL Touche Eclat and in my opinion, works just as well. I carry this one with me for a quick touchup during the day, especially around the nose, on top of my upper lip and in the inner corners of my eyes. It instantly wipes off signs of tiredness.

3) Lippy, part one: Lipstick/Gloss of the day.
As I grew older, I switched up my daily makeup routine from strong eye-neutral lip to the simpler and user-friendlier neutral eye-stroner lip combo. It's quicker, makes more of a statement and is (in my opinion) more elegant. I wear a lot of red lipstick, but there's also pinks, wines, nudes etc. in my collection. Lipgloss is present, but is not used very often. Today, I'm wearing the Deborah Shine creator lipstick in "16", which is a pretty shimmery wine colour. What I love about these lipsticks is that they have a very sheer finish, so they never look overdone, and are super balmy, so they never feel dry or harsh on the lip.

4) Lippy, part two: The Ever-present red.
Regardless of 3), I always carry a red lipstick with me. This particular one is Guerlain's Kiss Kiss in Sexy Tango (sometimes it gets switched up with Chanel Rouge Coco in Gabrielle). Sexy Tango a darker, very warm opaque red that's perfect for both day and night, whereas Gabrielle is way cheerier and brighter. Since the former is an elegant and not in-your-face red, it's super wearable for work, too (not that I would shy away from wearing Gabrielle to work). Although the shade is discontinued, I'm sure I'll go back to Guerlain for a new warm red once this one is finished - which will, sadly, be soon, as it's almost gone.

5) Germ-off: Hand sanitizer.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a germophobic neat freak or anything, but I do like having clean hands. Sometimes, when there's no sink-soap-water combo available, all I can do is wipe my hands with a wet tissue and then get rid of the sticky feeling by lathering on some of this sanitizer, which leaves my hands feeling clean, pretty much like they've just had a close encounter with soap and water.

6) Softy: L'Occitane Pivoine Flora hand cream.
Peony is one of my favourite scents. This travel-sized gel-like hand cream smells delicious and leaves the baby-thin skin on my hands soft and not at all sticky/greasy.

7) Balmy: Burt's Bees Hand Salve (tiny sample tin).
Cute packaging, waxy supermoisturizing balm for any sort of dryness and roughness of the skin. Lasts forever and is especially useful in winter and around the nails.

8) First aid, part one: Badass plasters (aka band-aids) from Urban Outfitters' "What happened" and "Shit show" collections.
Since Clumsy moron is my middle name, I could not possibly survive without a micro first aid kit with me at all times. "Don't ask", "Ninja fight" and "That wall came out of nowhere" are among my favourites.

9) The fun intruder: VERY girly guitar pick.
I don't play the guitar. At all. Never even wanted to. But this guitar pick has sentimental value. AND IT'S PINK! 'Nuff said.

10) First aid, part two: Mini pharmacy - ibuprofen pills and paracetamol+vitamin C granules.
Don't really need to further elaborate on this one.

11) Scribblings: Notebook and Eppendorf pipette-shaped pen.
I know we live in the era of tablets, smartphones, Evernote and all other sorts of backup brain imaginable, sometimes good old-fashioned piece of paper and pen just about save the day. Or provide instant entertainment for your friend's four-year-old child while you desperately want to have an adult conversation with said friend.  Of course, I wouldn't be me if there weren't something nerdy in there, hence the labland favourite pen, shaped like a pipette. It's just awesome.

12) Lippy, part three: Lip balm.
Who doesn't hate cracked or dry lips?!?

13) Bad hair day: Hair ties.
Suck it, wild mane + burja wind!

14) Refresh: Sephora compact deodorant.
Hot days, stressful days, angry days or surprise sleepovers. We got you covered.

15) TicTacs. Obviously

Not pictured, not remarkable, just as essential: compact mirror (really unremarkable), 2-3 individually packaged wet wipes, 2-3 tampons, mini nail file.

Yepp, I carry A LOT of stuff with me. But I also make sure everything is put to use well and often.

Jules

Meteorological summer?

We all know that, officially, summer starts June 21st. Glorious day. 

But that's just one point of view, apparently. Astronomically, the summer solstice marks the end of spring and the beginning of summer and everyone's familiar with that concept. 

But meteorolgists, weather people, have their own way of saying when seasons begin and end. Well, they say summer begins June 1st. So, metorologically, as opposed to astronomically, what marks the end of spring is simply a calendar jump from the month of May to that of June. Which happens to have been yesterday.

SOTD: Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta - Summer Nights (Grease)

In my area (SW Slovenia, near the sea), the month of June always felt summery. Sunny, warm, balmy, nice, pleasant, you name it. Sometimes it was hellishly hot, other times dripping wet, but mostly pleasant and freaking SUMMERY. So pretty much, our area agrees with meteorologists. By the astronomical (ergo, actual) beginning of summer, we were usually sweating like crazy due to the superhot humidity. 

Not this year. Oh, no no no. No.

Take a look what the sky looked like yesterday afternoon:

There was a storm cooking up and temperatures were around 16 degrees C (60 degrees F). Not at all summery, June. Not at all.

June, you should really get your shit together!
Because apparently, New York and its surroundings are dealing with a major heat wave. Bless them.

Jules