Category Archives: About me

Running always makes me feel better

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My jogging round on Saturday. First time I ran wearing a skirt. Kept my butt from freezing! It was -15 C, and I ran 7 km. Felt like a viking running through the cold! Well something like that anyway… 

Some seven years ago my boyfriend at the time, Stefan took me running on my birthday, as my birthday present. Since then I’ve been a period runner. A few years ago I ran a few races and tried a few beginners triathlon. Then I started by MBA studies, and simultaneously worked like an idiot. Not a very good combination, and of course I ended up more or less quitting running.

Since a year my husband and I live on a beautiful Austrian mountain, and here the running and trekking possibilities are endless. And since the snow disappeared last spring I run several times a week again. Now I’ve even started to run along the snowy streets. Works like a charm!

My running practice is to decide before I go out, approximately how many kilometers I want to run. With some running app I’ve measured some of my frequent distances. I never bother about the time, I usually never bring a watch or my iPhone. Running is a stress free zone! An exception would be when I don’t find anybody in the family to tell where I’m running, incase something would happen – then I bring my iPhone. When running, with my pre-set kilometer goal in mind, I run as far as my body and brain enjoy. That sometimes mean shorter than my goal, but most often according to my goal, or even longer. Most of the time I run distances between 5 and 10 km. During a good week I gather 30 km.

Cat encounter along the street when I was running on Saturday.

During the autumn I’ve developed a regime where I alternate trekking and running every other day. That makes negotiations with myself short when I don’t feel like running, since there is no option really… The best motivational quote regarding any workout, which I always embrace when my own motivation is lacking, goes something like “You’ve never felt worse after a workout than before”. That’s very true for me!

However, running is not only about moving my body, it works miracles for my brain. It reduces stress levels and tension dramatically. Most often I feel a rush of happiness already during the first few hundred meters. It always works – I always feel good after a run. Last week I had some kind of flu and was couching a lot, and I tried to stay calm except for a few short slow walks. During the beginning of this week I felt better and better, but my body felt worse and worse. Every fibre of my body and brain were aching for movement. Now after two rounds in the cold, some stretching, and the prospect of some trekking in the sun in the afternoon I feel good again!

xo,

Evelina

Nail polish… Oh, I like it. Not very smart.

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Nail polish is a weak spot of mine… Not very smart from an environmental point of view.

Here, here and here are a few hints towards more environmentally friendly nail polish. Are there any environmental friendly nail polish brands that have distribution in Europe that you have tested? I’d love to know!

Here are also two articles on nail polish removers; this doesn’t sound too bad, but this does (toxins entering your body through your skin and nails… brrrr).

For Xmas I gave my sister a few bottles and she gave me a few bottles. One of them, almost the same shade it turns out. Great minds think alike. The shade above is 718 Bronze Patina, from IsaDora. IsaDora makes conventional nail polish, but they do seem to put much effort into product safety.

Nail polish is a fine symbol of something totally unnecessary, and even harmful to the body and the planet. Still I like it. Or perhaps the concept of it. Hm… where should I draw the line… Where do you draw the line between vanity and saving the planet?

xo,

Evelina

Board games similar to maths?

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From yesterday evening’s round of Pandemic when we managed to save the world. The round after we lost… I think we were a bit too new year’s tired. But it was great fun anyway!

I’m really not a board game gal. When somebody talks about Settlers or Dragons… what ever it’s called… I can’t even pretend that I’m interested. It just bores me to death. The games take hours and hours, and I can think of a million other things that are more fun to do than to wait for somebody to conquer some fictional part of the planet.

But believe it or not, something like a year ago somebody introduced me to a game that I happen to really like, Pandemic. It’s a collaborative game, where the goal is to save the world from a pandemic. (Anybody surprised that I like it? Collaboration! Save the world!) All players work together to come up with the best strategy to combat disease, find cures and heal infected populations. There are quite a few rules to learn, but ones you have them it’s easy to understand. There are many ways to loose the game, and outbreak of different viruses can happen extremely fast. So the game is quick, and you have to keep track of all parameters at all times. Full focus is a must! I can really recommend Pandemic for some spare time fun with family and friends.

A few weeks ago Rupi and I were invited to play some board game with witches, thieves and whatnot together with some friends and friends of friends. The people were all fun and friendly. One girl (super pro player of everything board game for sure) sat next to me and tried to explain the rules to me. Actually she had to explain them over and over again, and I still didn’t get it. I felt extremely stressed out, because the information just wouldn’t stick. Afterwards when I though about my stress, and inability to remember and understand what she had just told me, I realized I react exactly the same way most often when somebody tries to explain some new maths example to me. I hear them talking, extremely stressed out I nod and say “yes, I understand”. Two seconds later when I’m alone with the example my mind turns blank, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Perhaps board game rules and maths are somehow in the same part of my brain…


The winning team! Typical Austrian photo ;) Lined up people, showing off what they’ve accomplished.

xo,

Evelina

I love you 2011!

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For me, 2011 has been a year of BIG emotions – a crazy mix of deepest love and sorrow. 2011 has also been a year of fulfilling work commitments – I’m speaking about my studies and the master’s thesis of course. But most important of all, 2011 has been the year when I married the love of my life, Rupi.

To gather my thoughts, and wrap-up, I’ve selected one image to represent each month of the year. All photos except one are my own. Enjoy!

January: The year started with work, fever, freezing temperatures and masses of snow in Austria as well as in Sweden. Running between interviews for our master’s thesis in Stockholm, I coincidentally discovered a bus stop some of our wedding guests would travel via on their way to our wedding… Excitement! The wedding planning started for real.

February: We left our apartment in Graz, and moved in with my husband’s parents on the mountain. I travelled back and forth to Vienna a lot. During one of these Vienna stays we had the pleasure of seeing Maria Leeb’s one women music album improvisation show. 12 tracks improvised; from rock to classical Viennese songs, alone on stage with a pianist. This woman’s singing improvisations skills are a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

March: Spring signs! Pauline, my mother in law showed me the only hepatica flowers on the mountain. They were planted by Rupi’s grand mother a long time ago, and are easy to miss if you don’t know exactly where they are. So beautiful!

April: Another round in Sweden. I noticed that I could start to apply what I’d learned at university, and through our master’s thesis research to understand what harm infinite economic growth does. I took this picture at Arlanda, the swedish national airport. It says, “We create economic growth in Sweden”. To me this means, “We are the companies that have no clue what our faith in indefinite economic growth does to the planet”…

May: Busy, busy! I taught at a university for the first time, and Sandra and I had the pleasure of organizing an interview with Egyptian movie maker and freedom activist Karim El-shenawy for a conference in Sweden.

June: I discovered Instagram, traveled to Pristine, Kosovo for the last university CSR and business ethics specialization module, and I was suddenly invited to meet nobel peace laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus at a round table discussion in Stockholm.

July: We were breathing, eating, and sleeping wedding. We took this photo on the last Sunday before the wedding when we went to the island to check the last details. A rare moment with just the two of us. We got married a few days later, on Thursday 21st of July. The time with our guests was plain magical. We had so much support and love from everyone. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family. And Rupi, you are truly the best. Every day I love you more and more. Word. Soon I will blog some photos from the wedding!

August: We wished for no wedding gifts, since we asked the guests to pay a portion of the wedding instead. A few days after the wedding we received a surprise gift from my dad and his wife. They presented us with a honey week on the island of Menorca. I visited Menorca several times as a child, so to come back as an adult was great. The light, the smells – exactly like I remembered it! I want to go back soon again! This picture of tasty tasty roasted and salted peppers was taken on a busy night at Ogar del Pollo in Ciutadella. I local must eat.

September: I joined my sister Emelie as a groom to several show jumping competitions during this year. That’s so much fun! And I love this horse! She’s just so sweet and intelligent. We became real buddies. It was also a treat to spend time with my sister. I love her so much. She’s so intelligent, and fun. I laugh so much when I’m together with her.

October: The Good Tribe organized its first international meet-up. Three days in Vienna of getting to know each other, planning and discussing. The next meet-up is already in March! Do I have to mention that I’m soooo looking forward to an exciting 2012 together with these four creative doers!?

November: Second round of celebrating our wedding! This time with the big Austrian family; Rupi’s aunts, uncles and a few cousins. My extended family is as big as Rupi’s nuclear family… We were more than 30 people in the end. So much tasty food and cake! My mum came from Sweden to celebrate with us. A perfect moment to wear our traditional Svärdsjö costumes. Photo: Peter Pessl.

December: I have to say that I am very impressed with my focus on the master’s thesis and nothing but the master’s thesis the last month and a half of the process. I basically said no to everything else and concentrated on reading and writing. I’m so happy with the result of our work. We will be publishing parts of it over at The Good Tribe’s blog throughout 2012. On a side note, despite Starbuck’s doubtful CSR strategies I have to say that their hot chocolate with soya milk is hard to beat. I treated myself during one of the last writing days. Good for keeping the spirits up.

Wow, so many memories! 2011 – now it’s time to say goodbye! I think 2012 will be a year of making new plans, BIG progress, and reaching out. I’m really looking forward to take on some new challenges!

Now I’m going to go for a short jog on the mountain. Tonight it’s time for fish soup, sparkling wine and friends.

Have a great evening, and see you next year! :D

xo,

Evelina