Maree('s) Muses

Hello and welcome to the 20’s!! And welcome here, the blog where nobody writes anything :-D Do you remember when I used to do regular annual reflective posts? The last one I did, stepping into 2018, was a sweet one. There was a lot of progress and positivity and hope. Then 2018 was a lovely year. Top of the decade I’m not afraid to say. Busy, active, positive, happy, strong… I could go on. The thing is, I never wrote it all down, because by the time I should have been writing my traditional reflection, we were in 2019 and life turned. Everything went downhill from there and I was so low and so dark that I didn’t have it in me to sit and write about how great the previous year had been. The darkness was all consuming. For a long time. Yet, here I am, still surviving, with a blog post on the “bad year” and I intend to graciously circle around the darkness and try to extract at least some positivity from it. It must be there somewhere, it must! Nazdárek, vítejte ve 20. letech!! A víte...

Happy New Year, dear occassional readers! Welcome to the second year of bilingual blogposts. There were not that many, I know, but you must consider, I have to write all of them twice now ;) It would not be January without looking back at the previous year and making plans and finding inspiration for the future. So, here it is:   Šťastný nový rok, drazí příležitostní  čtenáři! Vítejte v druhém roce dvojjazyčných příspěvků. Nebylo jich sice moc, já vím, ale považte, teď je všechny musím psát vlastně dvakrát ;) Nebyl by to leden, abychom nezačali hodnocením minulého roku a plány a inspirací do budoucnosti. Takže tady jsou: Where is winter? I took this photo on 4th January. 

Hello hello, occasional readers of my occasional blog. How are you doing? Autumn treating you well? I’m here with another part of my seemingly endless ramblings about dancing. As ever, it has taken me ages to organize my thoughts and write them down properly (and then translate myself back an forth). Much longer than I anticipated… But hey, this blog has never been one for regular posts. Year long delays just happen :D The point is to get it done and get it out here, so here is another little bit. Ahoj ahoj, občasní čtenáři mého občasného blogu. Jak se vám daří? Je k vám podzim laskavý? Jsem tu s další částí mého zdánlivě nekonečného blábolení o tanci. Jako vždy mi dlouho trvalo utřídit myšlenky a pořádně je sepsat (a pak se překládat tam a zpátky). O dost déle, než jsem předpokládala… Ale tenhle blog nikdy nebyl na pravidelné příspěvky. Roční zpoždění, to se prostě stává :D Hlavní je to dokončit a dostat ven. Takže tady je další malý kousek. I might as well give up o...

In spring I briefly mentioned that I had lost my job and once again, I joined the hordes scraping along in the grim Land of Unemployment.  Still there ;) There is lot to be said about jobhunting and dealing with being out of a job. It affects you (and your loved ones) on so many levels! I don’t think I am the right person to discuss that in any depth, but I have recently come up with a little trick that I use to build my own confidence when applying for jobs . So I thought it might be worth sharing :) Na jaře jsem krátce zmínila, že jsem přišla o práci a opět se připojila k masám přežívajícím v ponuré Zemi Nezaměstnanosti. Pořád tam jsem ;) Dalo by se hodně povídat o hledání práce a o tom, jak se vyrovnat s tím, když člověk nepracuje. Vás (a vaše nejbližší) to zasahuje tolika způsoby! Nemyslím, že jsem ten pravý, kdo by to měl do detailů rozebírat, ale nedávno jsem vymyslela malý trik , který používám, abych si zvedla sebevědomí, když se ucházím o zaměstnání. Tak mě napad...

Finally, I’m here with Part 3 of my series on dancing. Don’t say you have not been anxiously waiting for it. I know you have! :P Last time, when I told you about the uncertain first lesson full of doubts , I also told you that after that everything got much better, and I promised to share all the new and exciting things that I love about my classes. Well, here we are. Sorry about the delay. Konečně jsem tu s 3. částí mého tanečního seriálu. Neříkejte, že na ni nedočkavě nečekáte. Já vím, že jo! :P Naposledy, když jsem vám vyprávěla o první hodině plné pochybností a nejistoty, jsem vám také řekla, že potom se všechno výrazně zlepšilo, a slíbila jsem, že vám povím o všech těch nových a úžasných věcech, které mám na svých tanečních hodinách ráda. Tak jsme tady. Omlouvám se za zdržení.

I'm thinking... of "rebranding". Renaming and redisigning this whole thing. But I cannot come up with a suitable name that I would be happy with. I need to be happy with it. Otherwise I will get tired of it in 3 years. about all the Music Monthly's I had not written, even though I still take careful note of all my favourite songs each month. about what kind of wallpaper I should buy for the bed corner of my room. a lot of negative and bad thoughts. I don't like them, but I cannot stop them. of sharing my mental health struggles on the newly reborn blog, but I'm not sure anybody is interested in reading about how a girl in Prague is depressed. that unless I change something, I am headed towards being the crazy single auntie. Probably owning cats or other pet animals. Parrots or canaries are a cute option too. the lot of challenges ahead of me (at work and such...) and the lack of holiday before and after them. a monthly film club I would like to do wi...

Dear 2015 , Thank you, you've been a good one. We've been good together, haven't we? :) We got me a job and altogether changed my life for the better. There was a lot of work, but also socializing, a lot of culture and even some holiday time. Not too bad, I would say. I will keep this short, but I must mention the couple of travellers who visitied Prague in 2015 and who kindly requested my company to walk around the city or just plainly agreed to meet up for a chat. Here is a personal thank you to Sioux , Anna :P and her friend, Viviana , and Kirsty and Mark . Meeting you and having fun with you is just one of the many things this past year that go in the trend of "a couple of years back this would have been impossible for me." And here I go doing those things and enjoying them. Now isn't that magical? :) One thing that has not worked out well is blogging. I'm sad about it. The ideas are there, but the energy and the necessary time ma...

or Townie Goes to the Countryside and Photographs Apples I just got back home from a little trip that made me think about nature...

image and positive vibes from Sprinkle of Glitter So it appears to be the new year. How did that happen, eh? It seems only like yesterday that I was summarizing the previous year and building a hopeful and active mindset for 2014. Well, maybe not like yesterday, but the day before that. This post shall be similar to last year's , a little look back at what happened and a look ahead at what is to come. I hope you enjoy. Here's a little run down of what 2014 was for me:

!!! Warning: What you are about to read is based mainly on my very detailed travel diary. However, there are bits and pieces left out because of privacy, etc. So chances are that at times these posts might seem a little bit uneven in the level of detail. Basically, it's all very confused and not my most brilliant piece of writing. I am aware ;) Also, I hope you are ready for how long this is. #sorrynotsorry If you're tired of reading, look at the photos. I wonder if there will ever be a time when I’m actually on time or early for an important bus or a train. This time it wasn’t my fault though. It was the tube’s fault. The train I took on the way to the coach station stopped and it took a good couple of minutes for it to get moving again. (You must understand that for Prague underground it is very uncommon that the trains would stop and wait.) Not nerve-wracking at all!!! Not when you're catching an international coach, you're just about on the...

I want to tell you about a very stressful weekend that I went through. I'm not exactly sure why I want to share this, but I do. I apologize if it gets lengthy. You are under no obligation to read all of it. I just cannot skip over the details and make it short, because it's the details that are important. I have recently registered with a recruitment agency that sends me offers for temporal part-time jobs in fashion retail. Usually it comes out of the blue and they are very short placements, just filling in where somebody is missing. Anyway, since I am embarking on an exciting trip and I need to earn money to pay back to my lovely family who have funded my travelling adventures, I decided to pluck up my courage and I replied to one of the offers.  What followed was one of the hardest things I have ever done. And I shall tell you the story of how the little inexperienced me battled through a weekend in fashion retail, quietly repeating to myself: "London, I'm d...

This last weekend and couple of days before that, were such perfect and amazing days that I have to share with you what I've been up to. Also,  the "Life" category seems to be winning in my content poll so far, so there you have it, I'm giving you Life. Don't miss your chance to vote though!  It all began with ice skating. Well, to be precise, it all began with the Winter Olympics.  A couple fo my friends were planning on going skating to the Olympic Park that we have here in Prague. Wonderful thing this is, btw: it's a place where for the time of the Olympics you can come and try different winter sports like skating, ice hockey, curling, cross country skiing, even biathlon and a mini version of ski jump (if you're suicidal) and there's a little snowboarding slope as well. There are also big screens for crowds to gather and watch the broadcasts from Sochi and a studio of Czech Television. All through the day there are concerts, exhibitions na...

Early on in a new year it is always time of reminiscing about the year gone by. Well, no, usually one does that towards the end of December. But the end of December was so busy for me this time round that I literally hadn't had half a minute to sit down and write something. I only managed to think about it and I'm sitting down and writing now. Which is just as fitting, because my birthday is coming up, so I am allowed a bit of retrospection, aren't I?  Castel Gandolfo, photo by MarieMej :)   Looking Back It is almost too easy to look at my life the way it is, compare it to how I was this time last year and come to the conclusion that surprisingly little has changed. I am still liviging at the same place where I lived a year ago, I still haven't managed to find myself a job,... Hardly anything is different, if you think about it. At least not on the outside. If you're anything like me, it really is too easy to look at your life and see only the un-a...

People! I mean pretty little people. Geez, Maree, what are you talking about? So I was picking up my niece from school the other day. Coincidentally she goes to the same school where I used to go for a couple of years when I was a little cutesy girl just like she is now. Doesn't seeing your old school always fill you with nostalgia? I found myself pining away for the times when my life was worry-free, easy and predictable, and the main responsibility I had was to do my homework. Anyway, back to the point: as I was waiting for her, I'd been watching all the kids coming out of the building. Not in a creepy way! :D and I noticed that the overwhelming majority of them was very well dressed. They were all so stylish, the little buggers, that I had to containt myself not to comment aloud with "Ooh, that's a lovely scarf", "I love your jacket" and "This hairstyle really suits you". And that goes for both girls and boys. It made me won...

Recently, I have noticed a lot of youtubers skydiving, bungee jumping,... doing a lot of super exciting things. It might have something to do with the whole thing of... "I'm in my late teens/early 20's and I have no idea what to do with my life, so I'm trying as many new things as possible, hoping that in the meantime a miracle will happen and I will figure it out." Well if that has worked, congratulations! I am sincerely happy for you! There is some kind of a modern trend of hunting down adrenalin, feeding on excitement flowing through your body. Step out of your comfort zone, overcome your fears! It's a challenge! An experience! And when you have done this and your adrenalin level drops again, find another one! I'm sure they are not bad things to do... I guess I'm just not convinced about the importance of this kind of experiences.