How I keep myself sane with an iPhone.

I was reading this blogpost from Styleberry blog and found it very interesting.

This blogger made some rules for herself, so that she would spend more time with her kids without her phone. I was writing a comment with the things I do, but it became such a long comment, that I decided to write some more and turn it into a blogpost.

I recognize myself in not wanting to use my phone every second, especially when spending time with someone. Not instagramming/facebooking/texting while you’re with friends.

Having an Iphone is great, but I always feel a lot of pressure. "Did you see my text, why didn't you respond to my mail/text/fb message, bla bla."

And then there’s our business. I don’t know why, but people expect you to be available 24 hours a day. I run a business, but I’m a human being too. I’ve got opening hours too. And even after the crazy hours, also a life...

But I won’t lose my mind over this. I refuse to. So I made myself some rules.

1. No notifications of social media or anything else on my iPhone.

I only see notifications when I open the apps, and it makes it more fun (like opening a present haha).

Work emails do not come in on my iPhone. I work every day in the office, so then I respond my work emails/calls on my computer. And with that, I'm fast, making sure the communication is smooth. 

2. I do not respond to texts from clients or employees.

Call me or email me, texting is not done. Some things cán wait. Even if they seem very important.

I’ve heard this one a couple of times:

 “You have an Iphone, so you got my email when I sent it, and you should respond immediately!” 

Wow.

See rule nr 1.

3. Texts come in without sound or buzzing.

I love this one. No annoying sounds. And I love the feeling of seeing new texts on the screen.

Let's be honest, we check our phone so often, why the huge alarm when getting a text? 

And I also respond when I have time. No pressure.

4. No instagramming/facebooking/texting when I'm with friends.

We can do that later. Nothing is more stupid than having dinner with your friends, and everyone is staring at their iPhones. Constantly reading the loudly incoming messages. Responding while talking and eating. Big no no in my opinion.

Sidenote: I make sure people know how I communicate, so it’s always clear en not (too) frustrating. AND, I don’t expect others to be available every minute and don’t expect people to reply me immediately. Give to others what you'd like to receive from the world.

 

Via Pinterest

I realize that a lot of people don’t agree on all the things above. Why have an iPhone, but not “use it properly”?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still an iPhone addict! I love posting Instagrams, love reading Facebook timelines and call & text a lot with my friends and family. But I don’t need the pressure of doing it NOW. I like to use my phone the way I want to, so it keeps me sane. And keeping myself sane is more important to me, than responding to every little thing as soon as possible.

How do you use your phone? 

What I've been eating.

In the series "No time, but keep the blog alive", here's number two : FOOD! (First part: London pics)

Just a little peek at what I've been cooking and eating.
Enjoy!

I know, I'm reminding you of this:

Source, via Pinterest

And you know what? It's true.

I am Sabrina and I post pictures of everything I eat on Instagram and Facebook.

I'm back...!

I know, I know. I didn’t write for a very long time, but here I am!

I could go on and on about my busy life, what happened at work (lots of good stuff, don’t worry), but it would be boring.

Instead, I’m giving you some fun Londonmoments and lots of good food. ‘Cause it’s the only thing I photographed. With instagram.

No fancy camera involved, just me and my Iphone.

In August I’m going again! So excited.

London favorites nr 3: Food

In these posts I’m taking you to London, telling about my favorite places. 

For part one, about musicals, click here. 

For part two, about shopping and sight seeing, click here.

Last but not least… food!

I eat a cupcake every day I’m there. Sometimes two. Or three.

My favourite was the black bottom cupcake from the Hummingbird bakery. Rich, dark chocolate cake, filled with cheesecake and topped with cream cheese frosting. Read that sentence again.

I know.

You want it.

I ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture.

We like traditional English food like pies and fish and chips, so we eat that often. And last time we discovered Jamie’s Italian.

We love to cook Jamie Olivers recipes and it was delightful to eat it there. I highly recommend this restaurent! Go early or make a reservation, ‘cause it can be pretty crowded.

There’s so much more to discover…China town, lots of Indian restaurants.

The photo left with our friends is taken in Jamie's Italian.

Enough about my past trips… I can concentrate on our new trip next week! Planning new musicals, where to shop, what to eat… exciting!

I’ll keep you posted of course. London baby!

London favorites nr 2: Shopping and sightseeing.

This is part two of my London favorites. For part one, click here.

In fabulous London, it’s all about shopping till you drop. The huge stores on Oxford Street, the little shops in Covent Garden, the famous Harrod’s. Shopping is great in London.

I visited the Primark last year. That one is always incredibly crowded, so I went in at 10.00 AM sharp. And it was nice and quiet. By the time it got crowded, I decided to go fit.

Mistake. I took too much time collecting my stuff (it was just 15 minutes!), so there was already a line.

I waited for 45 minutes.

Forty-freakin-five minutes.

I was a little bit annoyed I didn’t get more items to fit. I just had three. The good news? Two of the three items were good, so I bought those. One was jeans, for ten English pounds. Ten pounds, can you believe it! And I have been wearing them for one and a half year now. Great.

                                                      One of my favourite items I bought in London are these heels. 

I have no pain when I wear these and they look great with a lot of different looks. I’ve got no idea where I bought them, but the shoe box says Irregular Choice. Don’t you think the website looks like a candy store? If I ever find the same shoes I’ll buy two more pairs. And I really hope they’re available in purple :-) 

The funniest store we ever went was the M&M Store. It was quiet and 4 floors, so we spent a lot of time over there! 

We bought two t-shirts and a present for our nephew and because we spent over fifty pounds, we got a M&M dispenser and two kilo’s of M&M’s for free. We like crazy things!

Now, about the sight seeing.

The thing is, most high schools in the Netherlands visit London for a few days. So many 16–year-olds have seen a lot in London, like St. Pauls Cathedral, changing of the guards, the Big Ben and more.

So did my hubs and I... and so we don’t do a lot of sightseeing! Weird right? But we always try to see one thing. Last time it was the Tower Bridge. As you can see, they were busy with the Olympic thing!

 

Hope to see you tomorrow for my final post in my London Favorites, about food!