We are meeting over lunch today because my morning is busy and the afternoon too. But since we didn’t get to catch up in December it is high time. The plan was to take a walk outside but it’s raining like crazy just above freezing. So unpleasant. So we sit in the car with our drinks. At least we have heated seats and the raindrops make a soothing noise. We have a lot to catch up.
If you and I had coffee…
…I asked how you have been starting into the new year? How did you celebrate? Have you set goals or intentions? And do you have a word of the year? As I had mentioned I was sick and the time between the years I usually cherish a lot has been a bit meh. I didn’t have much energy to deep dive into my goals. I still set a ton but I feel like I did’t spend enough time fine-tuning them. They almost feel a bt random and too much or too unspecific. I guess we’ll see how I manage in the coming months.
If you and I had coffee…
…I admit that I splurged on some apple products. I’ve gifted myself an Apple Watch early in December because I was 300 g of m target weight. ( I am 3 kg over right now, sigh). I love the new starts for health and sleep. And then just last weekend I splurged and finally bought anew phone. I have been postponing that for the past three years but it was necessary for work and also for the Arctic. So yeah me. And then I got new AirPods for Christmas. I am very much set.
If you and I had coffee…
…I tell you that my piercing started bleeding in December and that I had to go to the piercing studio a few days before the holidays because it was swelling and hurting. Nothing serious but a bit annoying. It is not all healed yet and it needs still daily cleaning twice – which I often enough forget. Unfortunately I can not report that the piercings did anything for either migraine or sleep. I don’t think anything has changed. Sad.
If you and I had coffee…
…I quickly report that I no longer use the APAP. It didn’t help my sleep in the long run. I had not been using it for almost two months and when I strutted again November I slip so so bad that the husband said I should just not wear it. The doctor agreed that this is not the right therapy for me. Unfortunately there is much more we can do besides sleeping pills – which I obviously don’t want to pop daily. So the last resource is a behavioral sleep therapy through an app I am currently doing. It takes more time than I had hoped with all the tracking and I am a bit annoyed that the apple health date cannot be synchronized. Two weeks in I haven’t really learned anything new yet.
If you and I had coffee…
…I still need to show you my secret Santa gift. I’v been using the cup and love it. Yesterday I treated myself to some hot chocolate.
If you and I had coffee…
…I tell you that I was elected for the church council. we had a nice ceremony first Sunday of the new year. I wasn’t feeling too well and couldn’t sing. In the past week I had three meetings already one lasting from 6.30-10.12pm. I am not yet sure what I sighed up for. I guess it is helpful to go in green otherwise I probably would have never run for that job. Oh well, we’ll see. For now it is fun and exciting.
If you and I had coffee…
…I share that the husband and I had planning session. After we didn’t manage to do anything vacation for the last two or three years besides the week in February over our anniversary trip and we were both rather burned out we agreed we need better planning. It was nice sitting down trying to figure out what we want to happen this year and already putting it in the calendar. I have booked our anniversary trip. We will do an easter vacation in which we plan to learn how to golf and then in September we want to go to Lake Como – two weeks. I just need to book everything before it is too late.
If you and I had coffee…
…I happily report that I have been doing yoga daily in January. I loved it so much in 2024 and whenever I did in 2025 so much so that I decided to start with a 30 day challenge this year and then see how far I get. It is so relaxing and gives me so much. I really need to remember that when times get busy and I am unhinged.
Lunch break is over. We extended it by 30 minutes but now we both need to get back to our to-do lists. So many task I inherited from 2025. But before we go we quickly step outside to admire the river view.
January 15th 2026 – 1.31pm – it’s still a thin layer of ice on the water
January 9th 2026 – 2.36pm – this is the image I had hoped to see at the 15th as well. But since my project is taking a photo every 15th this will be a bonus photo.
Then we hug goodbye and head on our way.
Tell me about your plans for 2026! How did you start the first few days? Any yoga classes you can recommend? Do you sleep well these days?
19 comments
Thanks for the catch up! I think your coffee looks great, and so yes, I believe I will have one too! Yay for getting the travel booked or planned early! That always feels good and sometimes with two (or more) people it can take a while to go back and forth about things so it’s nice when you can at least move on to the next step. After you told me that, I would tell you that I have a similar situation where K and the girls will come meet me in Bangkok and she is busy, so I told her to just get the flights and I will take care of the rest. I know we will have fun no matter what and I am excited to show the girls something they have never seen before!
I also would tell you that I feel similar about the goals as you do. I, of course, have a list of things I want to do and places I want to go, and eventually I will see a hedgehog in the wild (#lifegoals) but I haven’t really made them into a publishable cohesive list; for now they are just mine to do what I want with them. I may share some at some point…
I love your view! Where I am it has been in the 20s C, so it is a completely different world! Have a great weekend!
This coffee image is shot at Mallorca during a vacation so I especially enjoyed it. Planning travel is so hard and annoying at times because there are so many things to consider and all people want to have a say.
At least we marked the calendar. I need to look into hotels/apartments otherwise time is here and nothing is booked. But at least we have plans.
So Asia for you in 2026. So happy you get to have your friend and kids with you again. Enjoy the time and I can’t wait to read along.
Those are beautiful pictures! As you talk to me about your new Yoga routine, not only I’d be excited for you but also inspired because as someone who’s tense 78% of the time, I think it’s time to try it as well. This year I started going to the gym, nothing crazy, just walking on the treadmill for an hour listening to my audiobooks. Walking always eased my mind, but my neighborhood is not the safest so, the gym it is.
I hope you and your husband’s vacation planning goes smoothly!
Thank you for stopping by and hello to my blog.
Walking can be so healing. I am sorry your neighborhood is not safe enough for you to be out and about. But if the gym world too that is great.
I havent done much more planning and need to sit down and define some more details.
Sorry that you are not sleeping well. This is the one thing I don’t have a problem with – I just don’t sleep enough, constantly wishing for longer days so that I can fit everything in (including more sleep). I probably would complain a little how hard planning vacation is these days. With the kids being older and making their own plans finding the time to fit in vacation has become harder each year. We will manage but I never seem to be able to plan far ahead because I need to wait which classes or internships they can get into and see what the timeline for those is.
I can not imagine having four people who chime in on vacation and having expectations. Just the two of us is always a compromise and often enough no one is fully happy. Hope you manage and have some more wonderful family vacations before they no longer want to vacation with you.
Also hope you find some routine to get more sleep.
Oh, I’m so disappointed about the piercing, I had hoped that would help with your migraines. Also about the APAP, you need good sleep.
It’s great that you and your husband have started your vacation plans for the year. I have vague ideas for this year (France!) but nothing concrete. Time will tell.
Congratulations on being elected to the church council! I hope this is a wonderful community experience for you. We are not religious, and I sometimes wish we were for this aspect.
I really really need good sleep. Sigh. But maybe I should just stop worrying about it and it will all adjust itself. Isn’t that how love works? The minute you dont care and do not look you find the love of your life. Maybe it’s the same with sleep?
Maybe I am also just too impassioned and the piercing does work. If I look at the stats the migraine has been less even though it didn’t feel like it over the holidays.
I love the community of church. I bet you could still go to the groups and music even if not being religious. There is always something that isn’t overly religious and I feel happiest at those groups if I am being honest. This whole council thing will be a wild ride.
I have to echo that it IS disappointing that the piercing didn’t help. I would have been all about doing it if you had said it was effective.
I did set goals this year and I’m trying on the word compassion and I’ve needed it because everyone is falling ill around me and I need to keep things together!
I am so sorry that people around you are falling ill. Hopefully nothing serious and fatal but I have an inkling it’s not just a cold. It sucks worrying about others and not being able to do much or anything. Compassion is a good word to carry in this situation. I hope it guides you well.
I know i secretly hoped the piercing is a unicorn but then it’s a neurological disorder so yeah… I am still giving it some time since it’s not yet healed completely and the body may just need to adapt and rearrange itself.
Gosh, I’m sorry that the piercing didn’t help with your migraines, AND you’re still having sleep struggles. I sleep SO much better when I’m wearing my mask than when I don’t, so I know it works for me. I’m bummed your experience was the opposite!
The start of 2026 has been okay. I am just counting down the days to my rheumatology appointment, honestly. Being in chronic pain SUCKS (as I know you know!)
Lovely catching up with you, Tobia :) I am applaud you for trying so many things regarding your migraine and your sleep. It’s not easy (and frustrating) when therapies don’t help, but not everything works for every person so it’s a lot of triand and error. I am keeping my fingers crossed that you find something that works for you!
Definitely lots of try and error… up to the point where I wonder if I should just let it go and live my life. Until the next major attack or row of horrible nights. Sigh.
Hey, thanks for this coffee date!
I sleep with zero problems. I go down at around 8, and I’m up at 5:30-6 in the morning.
I don’t find vacation planning stressful at all. I do all the planning, and if someone is not happy, they can stay home. Or, go somewhere else lol but then again, my kids are still small so they are easy.
We are going to North Italy this summer. Flying into Milan and flying out of Venice. In between we will see Lake Garda, the Dolomites, lake Bled, Abano Terme, and Venice (just for a few days).
That sounds like a wonderful location. Our plan is to go to lake como or lake garda this June. M husband is a bit particular when it comes to accommodation which makes it no fun for me because I might find some cute little thing and hates it but I’ve already fallen in love. We‘ll see.
I envy your good sleep.
I’m so sorry that you’ve struggled with illness and sleep. My sleep is terrible. CPAP started off so great for me, but now anything silicone makes my skin flare up. I can’t seem to find a mask that I can tolerate. I see that my average sleep for January so far is 5 1/2 hours per night. I’m like you, thinking that maybe I should stop tracking sleep for a while and set aside the CPAP machine. Maybe all the tracking is making it worse? I’m so sorry that your piercing is having trouble healing. Could having it bleeding and sore take away from the migraine relief, and maybe it’ll help more after it heals completely? I don’t know, but I hope so.
That is my hope too that once it’s completely healed it will start showing long term effect. And the piercer said it’s taking 6-12 months. And I just passed the 3 month mark. Patience is just not my strong suit.
I am currently in the midst of behavioral sleep therapy and I hope that will reset my sleep. But having worries popping up is not helping.
I would have a coffee with you today, Tobia, because I am back on coffee and it is not triggering migraines. I only have one, and not every day, though.
The sleep thing is really frustrating; it can be so debilitating. I hope and pray for a miraculous change, which you need.
Hopefully the number of meetings is just a flurry of activity to start the new year and it settles down a bit as you move forward.
The sleep thing is sure annoying and I am constantly running on low fuel. The things I could do when having enough sleep. Sigh.
Happy to hear your migraines don’t get triggered by coffee. Enjoy every cup and I am happy to hear I could have one with you.