This is my life | Overwhelmed

Yesterday we spent the whole day celebrating my amazing parents'

25th wedding anniversary.

25 years.

Mindblowing. 

I can't imagine what that feels like.

Hopefully I'll know in about 23½ years.

The past couple of weeks have been spent planning that 

day of celebration,

and I think maybe I've used it as an excuse to not think about other things.

Like the fact that I start university tomorrow morning.

Right now that feels a bit overwhelming.

I'm just thankful tomorrow is just about meeting new people,

and that my lessons start monday morning, not tomorrow morning.

- Lea Binta 

TGIF | Cake

It's friday!

This week actually started off with friday for me.

Sunday night I set my alarm clock for about 9,

and went to sleep.

Next morning I woke up late, 

and couldn't understand why my alarm hadn't gone off.

Turns out I set my alarm for friday instead of monday.

I have no clue why I thought friday is the day after sunday,

but oh well.

This week's just been a week of fridays anyway.

Hanging out with friends,

shopping a wee bit,

and lovely things like that.

And eating cake.

Oh, cake!

Everytime it's friday I have a mini-celebration,

because the weekend is here.

It could consist of a brief happy dance

or an outburst of song.

Sometimes, when I'm in a particularly celebratory mood

I buy cake.

AND I EAT IT!

And that's exactly how I'm going to celebrate friday today.

from Pinterest

How do you celebrate friday?

- Lea Binta

Confession | Crybaby

Hi, my name is Lea Binta,

and I'm a crybaby.

I used to be such a tough kid.

Not tough as in cool, but tough as in I never cried during movies,

no matter how sad they were.

Only exception was once during E.T.,

the second time I watched it.

Bad day, don't know what happened.

Ever since I watched The Patriot with Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger

it's been one of my alltime favorite movies,

and I've watched it hundreds of times.

And I never cried. 

Then once, a few years ago, something happened.

I watched The Patriot, and I found myself concentrating harder

on not crying, than on watching the movie.

Where did that come from?!

And ever since that day I've been a hot mess.

Crying, crying, crying.

Somedays I think I spend more time fighting the tears

than anything else.

(Or at least it feels that way)

I cry at every baptism and wedding I attend.

I cry every time I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition,

and every show where someone loses an obscene amount of weight

and is reunited with their family in the end.

You cry, I cry. 

The other day the weather forecast said sunday was going to be

a real nice and warm day with lots of sunshine.

When I checked it just before going to bed they had changed it,

and now they say sunday is going to be a not as warm

and rainy day.

And I felt a lump in my throat.

Because of the weather.

I have no clue who allowed this soft, crying woman to take over my body,

but frankly, I don't like it.

If anyone of you have any suggestions to make me stop bawling my eyes out

next time I watch Grey's Anatomy,

then please, send them my way!

Now, if you'll excuse me, my hubby's almost home,

and that just makes me so happy I could cry.

Literally.

- Lea Binta

Party | Mail Call

I know I've been slacking a bit on the blog, 

but hey, it's vacation - 

I'm sure you have better things to do than to read my ramblings.

I promise to step it up a notch, though.

Tomorrow. 

Or the day after.

Anyhow, I got mail today, and if there's something I love

it's getting mail.

Especially if it's something I've been waiting for.

I ordered straws for my parents 25th wedding anniversary,

and they finally arrived,

and I CANNOT wait to use them at the party!

- Lea Binta

Confession | Addicted

So you know how everyone gains a couple of pounds over christmas

and then has to do this insane bikini-bootcamp to get in shape for 

the summer season?

I have to do that.

But you know when I gain more than I do over christmas?

During the summer.

Preferably while wearing my bikini.

I kid you not, as much as I love my winter foods,

I go absolutely crazy for summer foods!

I am, in fact, pretty addicted to summer food.

I know people who say that they don't eat much during the summer.

It's too hot for anything other than a light salad.

I often wonder, are they aliens?

Or maybe, deep down inside, they're really rabbits, 

and the finest food they'll ever really appreciate is lettuce and carrots?

I don't get it.

How can they not divulge themselves in the flavors of summer?

I could live off of icecream and barbecues!

You wanna see what I ate so far this summer?

Oh relax, I won't show you everything,

just the reeeaaaally good ones.

Better get ready for your mouth to start watering.

I got these mini donuts with powdered sugar at a concert,

and thank God I don't know where else to purchase these,

because I would have gained 20 pounds by tomorrow!

Have you ever lived in another country for years, and then

suddenly move?

You start missing the place, the customs, and the people,

but more than that

you start to really miss the food.

Of course you still miss the people too, since they cooked the food!

I miss Nigerian food so often, and one night my parents decided to make

a nice, homely Nigerian meal.

Aka what we could buy on campus.

We cooked and ate for hours. 

I'm pretty sure this evening accounts for most of my weight gain

over the past few weeks,

but it was sooooo worth it.

 Top left corner: kosai

Top right corner: suya

Bottom left corner: potatoes and puff puff

Nigerian pepper, salt, onions.

My sweet parents also decided to invite me and my brother for

brunch at a local café.

Of course, having eaten so much the previous days I passed.

NOT.

Who would pass up this delicious food?

And you know what else is a constant food favorite for me?

Taking a regular meal and throwing it on the grill.

It just makes it taste so much better!

Someday I'm moving to Australia and I will be throwing all my food

on the barbie.

And I'll get a funky accent too, because you can't say

"shrimp on the barbie" if you have no funky accent.

You betcha.

And really, some of the best food experiences of the summer aren't even on here!

I absolutely love being able to make my own icecream with whatever

flavour I want, in my handy lil' icecream mean-machine.

My brother fell in love with it too.

I'll have to get him one for christmas.

(Andreas, I know you're reading this, just act surprised at 

christmas, alright?)

Also, one night we visited a lovely Iranian family, and they cooked us

a feast!

A feast, I tell you!

We could easily have been 10 more people, with all that food!

And it was sooooo delicious, and they were sooooo nice,

and I don't have ANY pictures from that evening, because,

well, I was far too busy enjoying the food and their company.

Check back in 6 months to hear all about how I gain weight 

during the winter.

/Lea Binta

Snapshots | Summer favorites

Have you ever met someone who didn't like summertime?

The heat, the sun, the light?

Well, I have.

In fact, it's my brother. 

He spends all summer complaining about - you guessed it - summer.

I spend all summer complaining about summer too, 

but that's because I don't think there's nearly ENOUGH 

heat, sun, ligt.

Summer is always great though, and there's always plenty of stuff to do too!

And most those things are free,

which is how we like it.

Here are some of my favorite things so far this summer:

Every summer we watch movies out in the open.

It's a great way to hang out with a couple of friends,

and watch some good movies. 

We went twice this year, and it was pretty awesome.

Like always. 

What happens when the weather is so terrible that you can't really

go to the beach?

Some pretty clever people decided they would just make an indoor 

beach instead.

Complete with sand, palmtrees, (plastic) seagulls and cold drinks.

I went one night with my friend and her man to chill out

and have a drink or two.

An all-time favorite of summer?

Outdoor concerts!

There are plenty of them all around, and most of them are REALLY cheap!

My favorite of the concerts is where they cram 6 concerts into an 8 hour space,

and you pay the amount you would for one regular concert.

Pretty genius, if you ask a music-loving someone like me.

Another fun thing to do when you're bored is to paint your dog.

Relax, it was a joke. 

Or maybe not?

(For the record - I didn't paint him. I spilled paint in the grass, he sat in it,

and then proceeded to sniff his paint-splattered butt and get it in his mouth.

Ain't he just clever?!

And yes, of course I have a picture of his paint-splattered butt, 

and no, I'm not posting it on here.)

A final favorite for now, and a very important one,

is to find a friend and lie down in the grass,

and just lie there. 

Enjoy the softness, the smell, and, apparently, your friend's thigh as a pillow.

Who doesn't love a nice thigh-pillow?

Thigh-pillows aside, both me and Obelix (obviously) enjoyed spending

lots and lots of time with my family and their pup. 

The summer is far from over, and I still have lots more stuff to do.

Stuff like going to the beach (the real outdoor one),

and watch the sunset with an enormous icecream in one hand

and my gorgeous hubby in the other.

Stuff like taking a hike to enjoy this spectacular nature all around.

Stuff like driving to an unknown city, and act all tourist-y.

Stuff like roasting marshmallows over an open fire.

Stuff like getting bit to death by mosquitoes, which makes you itch

so bad you think you're gonna die!

Oh wait, that already happened.

How are you enjoying summer so far?

/Lea Binta 

This is my life | Haircut

I've been talking about getting my hair cut for a long time now,

and it finally happened a couple of days ago.

Right after getting my hair cut. Woohooo!

I love getting my hair cut, but I always dread washing it for

the first time after the haircut.

Am I going to be able to style it like my hairdresser did? 

Is it going to take hours for me to make it look like she did?

Luckily, it didn't take hours, but it does require a slightly 

better styling iron than the one I have. 

(My hubby already said I could go ahead and order a new one. Yay!)

First off, I just added a bunch of volume to my hair.

Then I thought to myself - what's missing?

A shirt and make-up.

I went for a slightly messier look, which, I think, suits me better.

I'll try the slightly more glamorous look from my hairdresser

when I get that new styling iron.

Random side note:

My dog head buttet me today, resulting in a sore lip, and a red spot

right in the middle of my bottom lip. 

I guess I'll have to cover it up with some lip gloss or something.

/Lea Binta