THIS IS FANNY | THIS IS FANNY

Smoky morning

Fanny Sura8 August, 2016Leave a comment

On Sunday morning, at 5am, Thor started to bark and we thought he was just barking at some random noise outside, which he does sometimes. Eventually I got out of bed and walked out of the bedroom. Smoky, smelly and men being noisy in the hallway. I made sure that Jim was awake and then I put on a lot of clothes, got Thor’s travel bag out of the closet, got my passport and greencard and told Jim to get ready in case we had to evacuate the apartment. Jim, who’s always calm in every situation, slowly went to the bathroom and I tried to tell him that I don’t think this is fake. Soon they started to bang on our door. We grabbed Thor and carefully opened the door. A fireman in a mask asked us to stay by the window in our apartment. After a half hour or so, when we understood that they were only cleaning out the last bit of smoke, we left the apartment and took Thor for a walk.
The family and their puppy in the apartment across the hall from us are safe. Their stove had a glitch that they noticed before they went to bed and they were going to ask someone to look at it in the morning. Well, the daughter woke up and saw black smoke in the kitchen. I’m so glad that they noticed it when they did and didn’t have to inhale too much smoke.
Scary. I have been afraid of fires every since I was a little girl. Every night before bedtime as a kid, I planned out my escape if there would be a fire somewhere. Jim is used to me freaking out from even the smallest things related to fire. For example, I refuse to use the oven unless he’s home. But, I’m rather scared of it and mentally prepared for survival situations.
Like I said, my husband is always calm and on Sunday morning I was surprised on how calm I was too. My only job was to make sure that Thor was calm and felt safe. Thor did so good. I want to believe that he understood what was going on. And I’m happy that he woke us up, our little Lassie:)

In Yoga

Breathe in breathe out

Fanny Sura5 August, 201626 May, 2017Leave a comment

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I took Jeanette’s kundalini yoga class on Monday and my guess is that it started something in my body, cause I’ve had a bad cold since the morning after that. The class was great, lots of heart openings which was what I needed after a few days of dealing with everything. When we are sad, stressed, going through traumas or grief, our bodies tend to get very tight in shoulders, neck and hips. I was so tight in every muscle and after that class I had “workout pain” everywhere, haha. All the meditation got me to release things I kept inside. I could have stayed there all day probably. Jeanette and I went for dinner after and it was very nice to just sit and talk for hours about nothing and everything.
Yesterday I went for lunch and playground time with Emma and Levy. I wasn’t feeling great and my energy was low, but it was very nice to get some fresh air in the sun and to catch up with a friend.
My mom and aunt face-timed me both on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were in grandmas house and it was actually kinda weird for me to see them walk around there, but I really appreciate that they let me be a part of it all even when I’m so far away from everybody. I always feel distant to everyone and when something like this happens it’s hard to feel like I’m a part of it.
My husband and I booked our flights to Sweden right when we heard about the funeral. After my trip to Sweden in April, it was the first time ever that I didn’t have a plan for when my next trip there would be. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be for this reason. But this is life and we have to accept it. I’m looking forward to see my family and relatives, I just wish it was for something more fun. It will be two very tough weeks until I get to say goodbye. I’m lucky to have my husband and friends by my side through it all.

In Uncategorized

Grandma

Fanny Sura29 July, 2016Leave a comment

momo_01 You were a friend, you were hilarious without knowing it, you were kind and a real badass grandma. My favorite moments were when we baked the worlds best cinnamon buns, and all those years we went to that special place with all the beautiful Lily of the Valley, and when you taught me how to knit and every time I tried it ended up looking like crap, and when the two of us had “fika” in your backyard and just talked about random shit for hours. I love how excited you were about your greenhouse, how into sports you were, I love that you sent me hand written letters even though you knew how to write emails and I love that you were this cool person that I gladly introduced friends to. You’ve given me lots of good advice and supported me in decisions over the years and I am forever thankful. I’ve tried to be there for you too, but I’m not sure I’ve done just as great job as you did for me.
I’m very happy you got to meet my husband and that you got to see videos of Thor. I’m happy that I was there to take you to the beach one last time two years ago. I’m happy that I got to see you in April when I was in Sweden. I somehow felt that it was the last time I was going to see you. And you were hilarious as always.
I can always wish to spend time with you one more time or to hold your hand once more or to listen to one more of your funny stories, but even if I would have got one more moment with you, I would still just wish for one more. When it’s time it’s time and we have to accept that the last time was the last one. But I miss you a lot, and I wish for one more time.
I was told that you died in your sleep without pain. You’ve had a tough year and you are probably having a great time now, wherever you are. I love you, you know that, and you will forever be in my heart. May you rest in peace. I’m sure we’ll meet again one day ♥

momo_02 momo_03 I look absolutely insane here, but this picture captions
the goofy relationship we had, so I will post it anyway

In Yoga

Sunset yoga in the park

Fanny Sura21 July, 201626 May, 2017Leave a comment

sunsetyoga-20july2016 Yesterday, with no energy or motivation, I put on yoga pants, grabbed one of my mats and walked over to Wagner Park for a sunset yoga. It was actually plenty of people there. All levels. The teacher was an old lady, not the best teacher I’ve had, but it was kinda nice. Very simple yoga but that’s what my body needed last night since the energy was so low. A sunny and beautiful night as well. An hour goes by so quickly though and in my opinion it’s too short of a class, but for an outdoor free yoga it’s perfect since lots of people, especially in this city, don’t have time for more. When I was done, Thor and Jim came to my mat.
After a walk home and a shower, Jim and I spent the rest of the night on our rooftop. Such beautiful sky! I love to watch the sunset in New York, it changes and brings out so many different colors. And there’s never anyone up there which is nice.
Last Thursday I met Jeanette and her friend in the park to listen to some live music. They have it every week and I’m thinking of maybe going tonight as well. I have just (kind of) discovered how much free stuff there is here in NYC. I knew of some stuff, like some music events and yoga classes, but when I started to really look around I found a lot of different things. I love how active this city is. It really never sleeps.

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In Dominican Republic, Travel

Damajaqua Cascades

Fanny Sura14 July, 201626 May, 2017Leave a comment

DR_rio-damajaqua_13 DR_rio-damajaqua_02 DR_rio-damajaqua_03 Ready for a hike DR_rio-damajaqua_04 Jim and I in the front DR_rio-damajaqua_05 DR_rio-damajaqua_06 DR_rio-damajaqua_07 It was very beautiful and very powerful
to look up when you were in between
DR_rio-damajaqua_09 It was actually pretty deep here, I couldn’t touch the bottom,
we are both holding ourselves up
DR_rio-damajaqua_10 DR_rio-damajaqua_11 DR_rio-damajaqua_08 Hahaha, I love our facial expressions:)

My birthday was the only day we could go on the one adventure that we had decided on before our vacation in Dominican Republic. So we woke up early, had some breakfast and got picked up by a car. We were the only ones from Cabarete, so we sat there alone for a half hour looking at the nature of DR. After we had picked up people from two other hotels in Puerto Plata, we were finally on our way to the 27 waterfalls of Rio Damajaqua.
There was a 25 minute walk up the mountain. Jim and I could probably do it in half, we just kept waiting for people, but it was nice to walk in the jungle so I didn’t mind. We had chosen the bigger package of sliding and jumping down 12 waterfalls. The water wasn’t that high this day so some falls we had to just slide instead of jump down. I thought this was a perfect activity for turning 30. The last waterfall had a bigger slide that we all went down and then you could choose to climb up again and jump straight down. I was the first one to do this and let me tell you that I was actually a bit scared. Good scared. Adrenaline pumping scared. If I have decided on something, then I’m gonna do it. Some people backed out but that is just not an option for me. I took some deep breaths and then just stepped off the cliff.
I have to say that I am proud of Jim and myself. It wasn’t a scary experience overall, it wasn’t the craziest adventure, but still, a lot of people would be scared to do this or they just don’t have the health for it. So, I am proud of us. We had fun!

The two photos on the top and the two bottom ones are taken by me with my cameras, but the photos from the waterfalls is taken by our groups “paparazzi” with not the greatest camera, as you can see. I have tried to make them look better though, but that was hard. We got a cd with 200 pictures but none of the photos was of us two. He must have given us the wrong copy, so I have been emailing back and forth with the company and finally got some pictures of us. I don’t care that much about the pictures, it’s the experience itself that you want to remember, but since it was my 30th birthday, I wanted to have at least one photo of us doing this and we don’t have any photos of our own from the waterfalls.