Dr. Filomena

Night-Time 10 km Run around Lake Bled was a complete success. The organizers actually had to start turning down entries a week before the run so I was really glad we entered on time.

Lake Bled was beautiful as ever and this must be one of the most picturesque runs anywhere. So, while Olivier was picking up Svarun‘s award at the German CFA cat show, I was up at Lake Bled, which looks positively impressive at night as well, with the beautifully lit up fairytale castle guarding it from the tall rock.

My favourite co-runners

I’m glad Mateja and Sašo convinced me to go! I was sure I’d end up walking half way through as I’d never done a 10k before (hey I know it’s not like a marathon, but distance can be a relative thing -G-) and I hadn’t ran in 6 weeks. When we first started off, I felt exactly like that same morning on the Gorenjska road where the motorway ends. Runners had to turn blinkers on at some points to prevent chain crashes. But we soon spread out enough to be able to catch some air. Within minutes, we were enjoying a jogging pace, admiring the views. Had some problems communicating with my sister and thought the finish line was… humm… well… half way through. I was so glad to have reached the end and had actually done 6 out of 10k. Major downer.

What kept me going for the first couple of minutes afterwards were the people around the track cheering us on while having their dinners on the lake. Thanks, guys! Exchanged some energizingly fun comments. Then I started thinking I might have done better going to Belgrade like Pengovsky had done. And so time passed.

But to be perfectly honest, what really kept me going that last mile was the prize. The one and only kremšnita (Bled Cream Cake, yumm). To make a long story short, made it to the finish line without walking in a bit over 61 minutes (take 1 minute off for the slooowww start I suppose and make it a nice and round 60 minutes? -g-)

This was, without a doubt, the prettiest run I’ve ever done. Still cannot believe we ran around the lake twice. The scenery was smashing and the atmposphere matched by no other run we’ve been to. THANK YOU, Vitezi dobrega teka! We’ll be back next year!

The organizers had the original idea of giving us small forks in place of medals. Came in handy with the ever so desired cream cake…

The prize (Cake disappeared instantly so no shot, sorry)

Feeling rather good, I decided I want to take up running again and get ready for the Bohinj 12 km run on the 12th of August. Who’s game?

After having gone to bed at 2am I got up at 6.30 and dragged Ian up to Komna and Črno jezero (Black Lake) in the Alps today, which made for an 8 hour walk, but that deserves a new blog entry 🙂

Včeraj sem večer preživela v Križankah, poslušajoč in gledajoč musical The Music of Dirty Dancing v produkciji londonskega West End International Ltd. London, tu je moje mnenje…

Prvih par minut sem mislila, da se šalijo, potem je nehalo biti hecno. Čez deset minut je gravitacija postajala vse šibkejša in sem se komaj zadržala na sedežu. Malenkost kasneje me je navdušila gospodična, ki je smela odpeti Proud Mary (rolling on the river) in še zdaj se sprašujem, zakaj nima glavne vloge. Zaradni nje sem ostala.

Tam nekje pred odmorom sem se težko koncentrirala na predstavo, ker sem razmišljala o tem, ali je zanič, ker se so nam poslali C zasedbo ali pa so to vendarle Ajevci, ki se pri nas počutijo kot na počitnicah. V igri je bilo tudi potencialno slabo ozvočenje. Strike that. Vse ostalo bi bilo ok, tudi neimpresivni glasovi in ples, ki ga šišajo Mariovi plesni pari, če bi vse skupaj izgledalo seksi in bilo nabito z energijo. Ej, DIRTY dancing sem šla poslušat-do-gledat z rahlo voyerskimi željami. Izrazito sta izstopala že omenjena neprva dama in prav tako neprvi blond plesalec, ki je včasih celo malce koketiral s publiko (hej ostali, učite se!). Kako jima je ime pa nimam pojma.

Čast jim je reševal bend, sicer pa mi je zadeva z izjemo nekaj lepih biserčkov v celoti izpadla kot avdicija za bitko talentov. Dirty Dancing brez dirty dancing.

To illustrate the point from the original Hair post, Sabina used Nikki this morning and proved that I have floor-length hair. Consider this the “before” in a “before and after” series 🙂

I walked up to Šmarna Gora this morning before sunrise, thinking of you. I saw so many perfect flowers, so many picture-perfect views. But it is the imperfections that make for unique… and perfect.

This one is just for you:

The ones we love never really leave.

Happy birthday. I know the sun always shines where you are. Bask in it, soak up all its warmth and love. In my heart, you will stay forever young.

I’m finally trying to recap last weekend. I was overjoyed to have received my Nikon D40 from Hannes and played around with Nikki as she’s been nicknamed a bit. So on Saturday, after lunch:

buckwheat/spelt pasta with veggies and home-grown basil

I took my bike out on the town. Stopping by at grandma’s first, I took this shot of a busy bee on wisteria:

and hortensia

and carried on to downtown Ljubljana. The first stop of course had to be our dear Green Dragon 🙂

I carried on to Kongresni trg where a group of enthusiastic folks put on a very enjoyable concert as part of the Live Earth happening, called Rock za prihodnje generacije.

One of the best gigs was the joint session of Benč & Grašič:

Thanks to all who organized the event, it must have involved so much work!

…after that, I rode my bike back home right past a Hare Krishna group,

changed it for my cutsey Micra and went South, to the seaside. Met with my sister and her boyfriend and continued with the concerts in beautiful Simonov zaliv. Still carrying Nikki with me, I took these shots of Big Foot Mama…

…and Kingston…

All of this in the best of company:

and before you know it, a new day dawned and we could all start having fun AGAIN! 🙂

My sister and I are not among the most gigantic of people. To put it otherwise, she is the same height as Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith and Kylie Minogue and I’m just a half an inch taller than Shakira.

I’ve just gone through something I’ve last experienced in kindergarten and did not quite know whether to be surprised, appalled or indifferent.

The sales are on and neither my sister nor I could resist, so on Monday afternoon we turned shopping into a sister-bonding event. We spent some time together, got some hopefully rather cool outfits and by the time we were all shopped out, we felt like eating junk food for a change. It kind of goes nicely with the whole sales concept so we stopped at a McDonalds. It turned out we were not the only ones with that bright idea and we ended up waiting in line for 10 minutes. Which would have been fine. Maybe. Though it sort of defeats the whole point fast food? Anyway, it would have been Ok had a certified idiot not chosen to stand in line behind us and try to upset us with remarks about our heights. Well let me tell you he got his own. These two girls can make a stand. Trust me, my sister alone could take him and his friend anytime 🙂 I’ll take him on verbally and she can act as my bodyguard.

Anyway, this primitive guy whose parents I don’t know whether to pity or detest works for Mobitel. I’d say here I’m really glad my company and I have chosen SiMobil, but must admit I have some good friends working for the competition so will try to refrain from doing so. Here’s the possible future Darwin Award winner who’s possibly learned a valuable lesson in picking on those /seemingly/ weaker than him.

In any case, the guy actually made our day even more fun than it was before as we had a fresh bone to chew on (Slovenian expression I guess) and it made for great further sister bonding.

Dottie Persson made a remark about me many years ago and it sort of stuck among my friends. Today, I solomnly pass the warning on to my sister as well:

Don’t Piss off the Peantus!

Thanks to all who put on the concert! It was fun.

More to follow after the effects of this guy’s work:

fade away

Ok so hair may not be as important to some as it was to Samson, but still. Facing a dilemma right now. My hair is pretty much like this at the moment (honest):

Needless to say I need to go see a hairdresser. Question is, do I
– just trim it
– cut it short
– go blonde
– whatever

I’ve done the long-to-really-short before and Marjetica’s post reminded me of that option. Audrey Hepburn was cool! So was Catherine, actually, but that’s beside the point. Only problem here is that my hair seems to grow at slightly above-average speed and I’d end up seeing the hairdresser more often than some family members. Again.

Oh the tough dilemmas we face…

Here come my first few shots with my new toy.

Click to see originals

A little souvenir from Moscow :

My cat-friendly balcony plant

I have much to learn, but this is FUN!

She’s here! After roughly 20 years of dreaming about my very own SLR, she’s here. Her name is Nikon D40 and I adopted her from Hannes at Knauserershop in Austria. If anyone is looking to buy, I warmly recommend Hannes as not only the price was the best I could find, but the communication has been exceptional as well. My friends (Adriaan? ) know what this means to me… and I suspect some bloggers do, as well. Right, bubašvabe? 🙂

My heart jumped for joy when I emptied my mailbox (yep, the non-electronic ones do actually still exist) yesterday evening and found the note of a box waiting for me. This morning I picked up my “Nikki” on the way to work, ripped the box open and let the batteries fill up under my desk while I was busy in meetings, property viewings, traditional Friday lunch with Sabina and writing up a description of our latest investment project in the Caribbean. Perfect timing as the battery filled up just by the time I was ready to leave the office.

Here is Nikki’s very first photo:

My grandmother Kristina @ 86

I had fun quickly assembling the camera and taking the first few shots and can’t wait to get a chance to really test her and start playing with filters etc. Photography, here I come! 🙂

On a different note, seeing as I’ve heard my grandmother’s stories over and over (and over) over the years, it’s shocking that she still manages to find one I haven’t known. She is a very interesting lady. Worked in Ljubljana’s “rižarna” (rice plant) during WW II as a bookkeeper (she kept the real books for the boss, not the ones submitted to the tax officials… some things never change, huh) and supported the resistance fighters throughout the war by helping supply them with rice, knitting socks, gloves and ear muffs and the likes. What I just learned today while taking these shots is that she had also typed up the hand-written diary of Pavla Leban, the nurse in the famous Franja Partisan Hospital.