среда, 11 декабря 2013 г.

imagine - book advice


I would like to tell you about the book I've read recently, which is "Imagine" by Jonah Lehrer. I got it accidentally because I am subscribed to an "english-learning" page on vk.com and was hugely impressed with it. The book really changed my mind about some stuff and that is why I want to share my feelings with you, my dear readers.

This book is about creativity and insights, on the cover it says "Imagine. How creativity works." The author shows from different points of view, what influences our ideas and our imagination - how it works biologically, how were great inventions made, why brainstorming is a bad idea and crowded bathrooms are good one. How are greatest companies like Google or Apple organized inside, what's the difference between "insight-art" and "on-drugs-art" and why Israel is a good place for sharing ideas.

I've learned enormous things about creativity and imagination. I am a physicist, but I also work as a designer and both science and art need creativity, fresh ideas and insights. But it is never easy, as some people may think, great ideas are unique and they don't come to your head immediately when you need one, even if you are "ought" to be creative and overfilled with cool new stuff, and "Imagine" cleared some points of the process for me, I really started thinking easier about the way you create something new.

I would recommend this book for everyone, because the way new ideas appear in people's heads is fascinating and, probably, you will be the one who has the greatest idea in the world and should just get it out of your head? :)

If you had read this book, please share your opinion! And if you know something similar, I would like to read something else on this topic, personally, I'll definetely read other books of Jonah Lehrer! Are you reading anything good at the moment?

четверг, 5 декабря 2013 г.

master chief

As far as I am now done with my "spain-trip-posts", I can proceed with all the other stuff which was waiting to be posted.

Pretty sure you are now tired of sea, sightseeing and shopping, so I would like to talk about cooking. I am really bad at this, I like to make sweet things, like cakes, muffins and etc., but everything else turned out to be a disaster. As soon as I began living on my own, in a dorm, things changed to a slightly positive side - wherever you want to cook or not, you have to eat, so there weren't much choice and slowly I began to cook more "serious" stuff.

But all-time problem about dorm kitchens is that they are disgusting. It is just impossible to cook normally there, so when I study I prefer to make simple stuff like salads or to cook what I can do in my slo-cooker which I got as a birthday present.

So the thing is, when I get home, to Dubna, to our wonderful kitchen, it gives me endless amount of inspiration to cook. I made some really good progress in healthy cooking recently! I will just show you things I am particularly proud of, and if you want any recipes, just let me know!


Vegetable chicken soup.


Baked common sole with vegetables.


Baked salmon with herbs and lemon with asparagus. Baked asparagus is my all-time favourite!

среда, 4 декабря 2013 г.

spain part nine and last - shopping

Whoah, finally the last post! Hopefully next time I won't make nine posts about one trip, but it is so hard for me not to show you all I've seen!
I've complained about shopping in Spain, but guess it was just some bad luck - everyone told me they had a great experience there. But I still bought some stuff and here it is :)


CKIN2U duty free perfume.


Rings, H&M (set is similar to one I've bought in Germany).


Sunglasses, Bianco.


While being in Spain I ran out of some beauty stuff. I really-really enjoyed this Douglas make-up remover, unfortunately I bought a small size and here in Moscow there's no such brand.


Striped tops. Zara. I LOVE STRIPES!!!


Bag, H&M. Not really fond of this one, but it was a necessity and simple black one was the best choice.


Cardigan, H&M. Perfect cozy one.


Impulsive purchase from Prague - Krtek! This is a mole, cartoon character from the czhech cartoon I used to watch when I was a child. So cute!


вторник, 19 ноября 2013 г.

spain part eight - five hours in prague

On our way back we had a five-hour change in Prague so had an opportunity to explore the city. We were completely tired and just visited a few places and ate some traditional Czech dishes (even beer ice cream, but it was not tasty at all =).

















Photobombing Natasha :) I doubt she'd ever seen this photo.










Dancing house.


spain part six - dali museum at figueras

The schedule was busy, and we started next day with going to Figueras to visit famous Dali museum. We survived a one-hour queue, and it was quite crowded inside... but not paying attention to that it was a fantastic experience. This museum is one of a kind, obviously, designed by Dali itself. Entering the museum you enter a little marvelous world of Dali and dip into his art, with a little bit of craziness, though :)














понедельник, 18 ноября 2013 г.

spain part five - arriving to barcelona

We spent our last two and a half days in Barcelona. The city is amazing, now I know why everyone love it so much! With some dark sides, though - crowds of people and long queues at all popular places. And thiefs. I've heard so many stories from my friends about stolen money and passports...we were quite lucky to avoid all that.






We spent our first evening jusr wandering in our "neighborhood". We lived in a hostel just in front of Barcelona University. And we've found out that Passeig de Gracia, which was five minutes away fron our home has all the shops - literally. Everything from H&M to Armani. How cool is that choice of place? :)




Casa Batllo.


The only aim (at least, mine) was to see Sagrada Famiglia. I've always been fascinated by the builfing itself and by the mysterious story behind it. And all what I expected was fulfilled ten times - Sagrada Famiglia is breathtaking, Gaudi is a genius of architecture! Unfortunately we didn't go inside, better luck next time. Now I have to visit it at least once more.




Me in front of Sagrada Famiglia. On my birthday I got a special present about it...which I'll show later :)



Aaaand some selfies in front :) I miss that warm Barcelona evening so much!