Celebrateloveandlife.nl

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
– Bicycle race, Queen –

Get my lazy ass out of my chair…
When I started writing this blog, I told you there were a view things I had to do and one of them was: get my lazy ass out of my chair.
Well I did. It was about 9 weeks ago when I filled out an application form on the internet for the local fitness center. Soon after I pushed the send button, I received a call and we made an appointment, and before I knew it I was out of my lazy chair.
Work had controlled my personal life for so many years that I completely neglected my own body and mind. I am 51 years old and way to heavy. I’m not going to tell you my weight because I’m too ashamed to tell you, but you have to believe me for somebody who always has been keen on sport (I played hockey and handball, did a lot of swimming and running, did some horse riding, fitness and survival ): it’s far too much.
Anyway 9 weeks ago I decided that it was enough. I couldn’t go on like this and I started exercising at the local fitness center. They put me on a program named: the Milon Circle. Every Tuesday and Friday morning I take my mountain bike and ride to Leisure World . I do my exercises and go back home. I like to go as early as possible, at a time when there are not a lot of other people. I made a spotify list; it motivates me, listening to music and do my exercises. It’s a way of shutting down the world around me and to concentrate on the exercises.
In the program I follow there is this cross trainer. I have to do this one twice (4 minutes each time) and I hate it. I wish I could move the time forward with my eyes but that doesn’t work. 4 Minutes are 4 minutes and they won’t go any faster, and even if I go faster it doesn’t make any difference. So I decided I had to have some music to keep me going. I chose:Tsunami from Radio Edit. The rhythm of the music keeps me going. I also have to ride on a bike, 4 minutes, twice. But riding a bike is no punishment, it’s what I like to do. I like listening to Enrique Iglesias/Pitbull (I like how it feels) or Bruno Mars (That’s what I like) and before I know it, 4 minutes are over. But riding a bike in a fitness center is not as much fun as riding on my mountain bike outside.

Flevoland
This morning my love and I took our mountain bikes and made a lovely ride through Flevoland. For those who don’t know Flevoland: it’s a very flat region in the center of The Netherlands. The land was drained in 1957 and the place I live in arose in 1972. I live beneath sea level.
If you life in a country like Germany, France, England, Ireland or Scotland you cannot imagine how flat Flevoland is. You probably start laughing when I talk about hills or lakes. I get it, I would laugh too when I think of all the beautiful mountains, hills and lakes in your countries.
Anyway we went on our mountain bikes. It was a sunny day and at our first stop we drank a nice cup of coffee and ate a slice of apple pie with whipped cream. This is a good biking habit in the Netherlands. You take a break on your biking tour and you go for coffee and a slice of apple pie with whipped cream. It’s a treat you give to yourself because you think you earned it after hard work! I know it’s not good for my diet but I’m sorry, old habits are hard to break.
As we went further we left the main biking path and went through the forest. It’s nice and quiet there. For on the main biking path it can be very busy on a summer’s  day.
There might be nine million bicycles in Beijing but there are 22 million bicycles in The Netherlands. That’s a fact. That means that every person in the Netherlands has at least one bike and most of them have two. That’s also true, I have two bikes. I have a regular bike to go to my work, do shopping and go to the local wine bar on a Friday night, and I have my mountain bike.
We went through the forest and for those who know my love, also know he’s never staying on the regular paths. No, my love always finds another path and says; let’s see where this one leads us…
That’s the moment I should be alert, and believe me I am, but still, every time I do follow him and every time I think; the next time….. For I do know that when I follow it’s not going to be easy. We will be riding on paths of sand, through the grass, water and the mud. Over tree stumps and trying to avoid the reed on the side. Well today was no exception. But it was lovely doing it after a long time. I really missed it.
Our second stop was at the lake called; Veluwemeer. We sat on the terrace and ordered a nice lunch.
I ordered a healthy salad after my not so very healthy apple pie. I did this biking for a greater cause and that wouldn’t work if I ate all those not so healthy stuff on the other side. I would never lose any weight by eating apple pie every time.
While we were eating, a huge ship was sailing by. As a matter of fact it didn’t sail by itself. The ship was towed by several little boats. The ship looked a lot like the Ark of Noah. Later I heard people saying It was the Ark of Noah. In fact it was a floating museum. On the boat are all kind of figures from the bible telling their stories.
After lunch we went for the last part of the route, and when we arrived home we biked 47km (about 30 miles) today.
As for today I think I deserve to lay down on my lazy ass for a little while………

And you get a head
A head full of dreams
You can see the change you want to
Be what you want to be

A head full of dreams, Coldplay

My Peak Challenge
Last week I presented to you my new website; celebrateloveandlife.nl and I explained to you why I did it and what I wanted to do with it.
But before the site was presented to you I had a challenge. A big challenge; I had to do something I had never done before. Building a website and writing my stories. I can tell you that’s a BIG challenge.
Finding a name for it and finding a webhosting company to host me wasn’t the hardest part. Raoul Werger, owner of Oxilion, a big webhosting company in the Netherlands, offered to help me out. Thank you Raoul, for supporting me!
But being honest to myself and without shame I have to admit if it wasn’t for the global community; My Peak Challenge, I would probably never have started this in the first place.
And if I had not seen Outlander, I would never have googled on the cast of this wonderful series; Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe, Tobias Menzies, Graham McTavish, Duncan Lacroix, Steven Cree, Scott Kyle and all the other fine actors and actresses.
One thing led to another and through Sam Heughan I came to the website called; My Peak Challenge, and when I read the website I found My Peak Challenge.

‘A Global Community rooted in the belief that we can all effect positive change in our lives while helping others’.

I have always been raised in the belief that you have to help each other, and that’s exactly what I saw in your global community Mr. Heughan.
It was what I needed. The belief that I could make a positive change and still be helpful to others.
My Peak Challenge is about reaching out of your comfort zone, and find something that you don’t think you could do. Make it a challenge and achieve it.
And that’s exactly what inspired me to make my own website; celebrateloveandlife.nl and start a weblog. I still don’t know if I can do it but I don’t know if I haven’t tried it. Or like my father used to say: ‘You have to test everything and hold on to everything that’s good’.
I made a list of the things I wanted to achieve and I started.

Building the website
To be honest it took me quite a while to build the website. What do I want to post? I wrote some of the parts over and over again. Thought it was never good enough. If I was going to do this the whole world could read what I always kept to myself. It would make me vulnerable. But on the other hand it would make me stronger, much stronger. It would show that I would no longer be afraid of what others might think of me.
I posted pictures. Some of them I had to remove after posting because they were not sharp enough. Then I found this picture of Scotland. I made it in 2009 when I visited Glasgow. I put it in the header image and until a week ago I thought it was the picture to be. But deep down inside of me there was a little voice that told me there had to be something better.
You see it is a wonderful picture and I have good memories about it but it is also a dark picture. The picture could make you feel sad and my challenge was to celebrate love and life something I didn’t implicate with this picture.
Somewhere in my diary I even wrote; ‘I’m not a depressed middle aged women…Me always trying to be the positive one.. ‘
But until a week ago I couldn’t find me another header image, so I let it be.

The header image
While I sat outside on the terrace with my laptop, my love and the children were playing around with a camera. All kind of silly pictures were taking until my daughter said: ‘Mom how long will you go on before I can use the laptop?’
I told her that I needed a little while longer and then it was hers. I thought she had to finish something for school.
‘Will you not shut it down, I want to try something.’
I finished what I was doing and when I came back outside some time later, she had made a scene on the table with all kind of things I use for writing.
Suddenly I knew what she was doing, she was making me the picture I was looking for in my header image. It represented all of me.
At that moment all the pieces fell into its place and celebrateloveandlife.nl was born.
That evening I asked two people to look at it and tell me honestly if it was worth publishing.
When I got their answers it made me cry. I had done something I never thought I could do.
I challenged myself and I did well. My Peak Challenge was accomplished.
Celebrateloveandlife.nl was born and I DID IT.
There’s only one small thing left for me to do and that is to join My Peak Challenge. My request is on its way, My Peak Challenge…