Hello weird part of the internet. It’s me again, you might know me from a The Kiwi Diaries, a sort of travel, lifestyle diary I started when I moved to New Zealand, hence the Kiwi aspect.
Throughout the years that blog became a bit of a mix match of themes: food, travel, design, art, events, heavily focused on my Auckland years. But since then I moved to Berlin, now Spain, and who knows… future place TBC (parents don’t freak out just yet)
It didn’t seem right to continue with The Kiwi Diaries if I was not in New Zealand, no matter how I tried to force it and after a couple of years I realised that my interest had changed, and it seemed weird to suddenly talk about other things online
At the beginning of this year I said goodbye to TKD. Reasons you can read here (this would be an eternal introduction if not) and I really thought I wasn’t going to blog any more, yet…. I still find myself going back to old entries and praising myself for writing things down because now I can go back to those moments.
Therefore, it seemed quite fitting that I start this blog today, on All’ Hallows Eve, a day where (it is believed) that the dead can roam the earth again. What I mean to say is (in a bizarre choice of words), Im bringing the kiwi diaries back from the dead, with a face-lift.
Still food… still travel…still epic fails…still not sure about putting my face out there… but with new things, new interests… I hope to meet some of you along the way and if not… future ME welcome to volume 2…welcome to Jules in a Box
I started this blog in 2013. I had moved to New Zealand a couple of months before and I remember finding online a list of 150 things to do/visit in Auckland and I thought it would be great to try and tick as many as possible and maybe write something about it, that’s how it all started.
It was never about having people read it, and it took me a while to even post a picture of myself (I still struggle with that) I saw this blog more like a diary, to go back and remember places, and events and yummy things I ate along the way.
As time went by I started getting more and more into it, uploading 3 times a week, researching, editing and reading other blogs the rest of the days and I was happy, always thinking what else I could upload, going to blogging events, meeting a great group of girls in Auckland that were into the same ‘world’.
I don’t think I ever stressed about it, maybe because the blog never go ‘that big’, so I was able to keep it as a hobby. It did introduced me to a whole new world of things, photo editing, writing, food styling and so on, but I don’t think I was ever one of those number crunching, SEO fanatics always trying to expand and get more and more readers.
After a couple of years, I started to feel more and more disconnected to this blog, maybe it was the lack of time, maybe I wanted to enjoy more things instead of documenting them, and I think that showed… in the lack of consistency in uploading in the last couple of years.
2017 was a weird year, I’ve talked about it in one of my latest post, another move, another starting over, dealing and understanding my newly found thyroid problem I found myself only writing just to upload something, picking up projects and leaving them half way because… meh why bother?… and I realise that is awful, that goes almost against the reason I started to write here in the first place.
What I mean to say is, I think is time to say goodbye to this blog, I think we had a good run, The Kiwi Diaries opened a lot of new possibilities, introduced me to lovely people and help me travel through a new country with a different perspective, but I think I’ll leave it at that. Who knows I might write from time to time, but after 5 years and 3 countries I think is time to put the pen down (or the keyboard more like it)
If you read, have read this blog, commented or not, lurked in the shadows of the interwebz, I hope you’ve enjoyed it, I hope it made you laugh or helped you learn a new recipe, made you wunderlust or simply entertained you. Thank you and we might be meeting again. And given I started this blog with a Maori greeting…I might as well
On the first part of this post I talked about how I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, how the treatment ended with me in the other side of the spectrum: hypothyroidism.
Losing my hair and regaining my confidence
The upside of this whole ordeal, is that I was able to experience both sides of the ‘disease’ So if you come to me and said ‘Hey I have hyper…. Or hey I have hypo…’ I can say ‘I get you girl…’ The downside as you can imagine is that I experienced ALL THE SYMPTOMS haha I went from anxious and hyperactive to barely being able to get away from the couch, from sleeping all day to insomnia, and the ups and down of the scale, but the only thing that got me were the physical changes.
Hey remember me? I know I’ve been a little MIA lately, not only here but in most of my social media platforms (besides the odd Instagram story) and I guess I have a ‘good excuse’ for it.
2017 wasn’t the best of years, it took a bit of learning, falling a bit back in love with myself to get through it and realizing that sometime is best to leave it to the professionals.
It all started around the time my parents came to visit us in Berlin, when they realized that my hands used to shake a lot and I had lost a bit of weight (but to be honest all parents are always saying you lost weight)
I used to blame it on the cold and the stress of moving countries, but when we got to Mallorca, things got considerably worse. My hands keep shaking, just a bit of sun would ‘hurt’ my eyes, I felt nervous, anxious, I couldn’t sleep, I kept losing weight even though I was basically binge eating and for some reason, every loud noise (dogs barking, cars honking, someone shouting) would scare the crap out of me, I would feel almost paranoid and fear closing doors for god’s sake.
I kept blaming it on other things: stress, that Berlin was quite dark and I needed to get used to the sun again, that I was unfit therefore my heart felt like it was trying to leave my body (alien style) when I exercised and that I never had dogs so I wasn’t used to the barking…. bulls#t like that.
Eventually Le Boyfriend forced me to go to the doctor, within a couple of seconds he made me stand up, he touched my neck and said, ‘I think you might have a thyroid problem’ Two blood tests and a scan later and I’m crying myself over a bucket of ice-cream screaming ‘WFT is a thyroid?!’
If you’ve been here a while you know by now that Le Boyfriend and I are quite the globetrotters. Originally from Argentina, we moved to New Zealand in 2013 in search of new adventures and after three amazing years in the land of the big white cloud, we went in the search of new adventures, only that this time, we choose to make Berlin our home. Fast forward one year and we are itching for something new.
Via: Touropia Travel Experts – Looking a bit like Kings Landing doesn’t it?
February was a short month..therefore…a short video.
We continued our promise of travelling somewhere each month and after Le Boyfriend’s Birthday we took a weekend trip to Andorra and hit the slopes. We don’t have much footage of us skii because we are pretty new to it and we were fearing for the safety of our camera hahaha.
February was also a month of yummy homemade meals and a trip to the Bauhaus Archiv.
A couple of months ago I came across Sammy Paul’s Pretentious Monthly Scrapbook monthly series, and soon enought I found myself binge watching Hazel Hayes’ and Jack Howard’s take on it. Far from being a video series about periods they document in monthly statement a ‘year in the…’ and I’ve absolutely loved them.
I started this blog, as a way to keep up with family and friends while I was abroad and as a way for me to document my life for myself in a couple of years. So I started thinking that this could be the evolution of this blog…in video form.
This is the first of 12 videos that will be uploaded on the course of this year. And given this is my first one I’m going to try to not be so hard on myself and use this to also learn and learn to stop shaking when I film hahaha.
I’m writing this with super speed as Im a few minutes away of going on a road trip, and even though I was M.I.A this week I though today I needed to post this.
Today is my final day as a Dry-Julyer, I spent the whole month of July without drinking alcohol, and even though I did get and was offered ‘Golden Tickets’ (chances to drink on a specific dates guilt free) I politely declined or voided them.
I also promised that I as going to write a re cap of each week during the whole month and manage to write on or two posts, and here it why…
Final thoughts on Dry July:
I though it was going to be harder.
I sincerely though that I was going to struggle each week, or have a million events and gatherings that would be surrounded by alcohol and that I would eventually have millions of things to write about. But truth is (other that July being quite un-eventful) it wasn’t hard, I was not dying for a glass of wine and I could party just fine drinking sodas and juice. So as the days went by I couldn’t find anything interesting to write about, other than “All good…still not drinking…see ya next time”.
I did feel the difference. Overall I feel less tired and more focused, I guess I should have lost weight but I did eat quite a bit this month so what I lost in alcohol I gain in snacks. But overall feel better (and was the only one with out a killing hangover after partying last Saturday – point for me)
I would do it again. Better said…. I will keep doing it. I always struggled, when I start a new diet, to cut the alcohol and I know that that’s what in the long run affects me the most, so know that I spent a whole month without drinking I’ll try to keep it up, continue not to drink (or drink as much) and hopefully that will have another effect on how I feel or my body.
As for the actual fundraiser, we started strong and died there. But I know raising money is not an easy job and I appreciate all your support through it. Also, every bit counts and from what I can see right at this moment $352,715.80 had been raised in total, so yeah!
As for me, I need to run, but I’ll see you soon!
[Spanish Version]
Estoy escribiendo esto a súper velocidad ya que en pocos minutos nos vamos de viaje por el fin de semana, y a pesar de que estuve desaparecida esta semana, pense que hoy tenía que publicar algo. Hoy es mi último día como Dry-Julyer, pasé todo el mes de julio sin beber alcohol, ya pesar de que conseguí y me ofrecieron ‘Tickets Dorados’ (posibilidades de beber sin culpa en fechas específicas) las anule o rechacé amablemente.
También prometí que iba a escribir un resumen de cada semana durante todo el mes y con suerte logre escribir uno o dos posteos, y aquí es por qué …
Reflexiones finales sobre Dry July:
Pensé que iba a ser más difícil.
Sinceramente crei que iba a luchar cada semana, o tener un millón de eventos y reuniones que estarían rodeados de alcohol y que iba a tener millones de cosas sobre las que escribir. Pero la verdad es (ademas de Julio siendo un mes sin acontecimientos) no fue difícil, no me estaba muriendo por una copa de vino y pude ir a fiestas y pasarla igual de bien tomando jugo. Así que como pasaban los días no pude encontrar nada interesante que escribir, excepto “Todo bien … sigo sin tomar… nos vemos la próxima”.
Yo siento la diferencia. En general me siento menos cansada y más centrada, supongo que debería haber bajado de peso pero ya que comi de mas este mes, lo he perdi en alcohol lo gane en golosinas. Pero en general me siento mejor (y fui la única sin una resaca de muerte después de la fiesta del sábado pasado – punto para mí)
Lo haría de nuevo. Mejor dicho …. voy a seguir haciéndolo. Siempre me cuesta, cuando empiezo una nueva dieta, cortar el alcohol y sé que eso es lo que en el largo plazo más me afecta, y ya que pasé un mes entero sin beber voy a tratar de seguir así, no tomando (o tomando poco) y ver si eso tiene otro efecto en cómo me siento o mi cuerpo.
En cuanto a la recaudación de fondos reales, empezamos fuerte y murió allí. Pero sé recaudar dinero no es un trabajo fácil y agradezco todo su apoyo a través del mes. Además, cada paso cuenta y por lo que puedo ver justo en este momento ya se recaudaron $352,715.80 en total, así bien hecho! En cuanto a mí, tengo que correr, pero nos vemos pronto!
Hello everybody! If your not new here, you’ve probably seen that things changed a little.
Two years ago, our of boredom, unemployment and to force myself out of the house I started this blog to talk about travel, events, food and everyday life in New Zealand. Given that, as I said before, today The Kiwi Diaries turns 2, I though I would be a good idea to freshen up the page and start this ‘new year’ with a new look.
There are a few bits and pieces that I still have to fix here and there but hopefully this new look will make the page a bit more approachable and ‘user friendly’ (look at me using web words) You will be able to found some of the most popular posts in the top section of the page (which will change every one or two weeks) and future posts will carry on the new look and feel.
Tell me what do you think!
Until next time.- Jules
Just a super quick update. This week went by as quick as a wink, it turns out I’m not having any major cravings for drink and not drinking during the week helped me stay a bit more ‘awake’ if you will.
We had a dinner party at Mr.F & Miss T on Saturday were I though I was probably going to drink but they made this amazing citrus and cranberry and lime non alcoholic drinks that tasted amazing.
As for they account, we are still at $125 with one Golden Ticket from last Saturday which I voided. (Meaning, the donation still went through but I didn’t drink) For all Dry-Julyer I found this amazing article on cute non-alcoholic drinks to share here.
Hope you have a great weekend and let see how next week goes.
