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2017!

This post took a lot of motivation to actually get started on but I tend to very quickly forget old events so this is a good way to be able to remind myself in few years, and it brings me a lot of joy to revisit latest months too :)

Here we go!

January:

Kicked January off very productively by leading a Django Girls sprint for our internal team. We got the team together and spent a weekend hacking on our tools and processes. This allowed us to continue scaling our organisation throughout the year, and it was really fun to hangout with Django friends I've not seen for a while :) It's actually feels like this happened ages ago and I can't believe it's happened just a year ago.

Just after that I went on a short work trip to Wrocław, Poland to meet my new team at work and kick off a 9-month project that suddenly changed into 3-month fast-paced MVP for Verve. This trip changed the course of this entire year and definitely stayed with me as one of my favourite memories of 2017.

Had friends over and we stayed up playing board games and catching up till 4am. More nights like this please!

Wrapped the month up by going to Women's March in London and eating a cheesy bowl of risotto cooked by Neha <3

February:

Visited home and went bowling and partying with my sister in our hometown. Got a post-it sized love letter from a guy on a dance floor which somehow led to my sister's boyfriend getting into a club fight. Still laughing at it with my sis whenever I visit!

Went to see Josh Ritter perform an acoustic concert in a tiny old London church. Definitely the best gig I've been to in years. OMG what an experience.

Did a lot challenging and demanding but very rewarding work while being thoroughly excited about having an opportunity to help setup a brand new team at Verve.

Bought a screwdriver, hammer and build an IKEA chest of drawers all by myself.

My face featured on a Rogue One-themed poster for a work party

Saw Hidden Figures in the cinema, probably my favourite movie of 2017.

Started working on a podcast side-project with Ola, that actually never came to see a day light. Had fun anyway!

March:

Started going to a Ukulele course in London. Finished the 4-week workshop and now I know how to play 4 songs rather badly.

Went on a skiing holiday with Michael and my sister. Also met Kasia in Kraków! Had soooo much fun, and you can never find a happier version of Ola than the one on a slope accompanied by good friends.

Danced my shoes off at Matus's birthday, and then overcame my anxiety to go to a dance class with Jade.

Reached my peak healthy of the year -- ate very well, run and cycled a lot.

Karaoke with the Polish team in Wrocław. SUCH a good night.

April:

Launched the MVP for the project that began in January, to a great quality and pretty much on time. Celebrated with a huge party, and then took well deserved time off. Turns out we've only built more things faster since then!

The IKEA chest of drawers started to fall apart. Turns out those few screws were needed after all.. :)

Spent Easter away from home but in a great company of Ola and Tomek.

My first Hawksmoor steaks with Mazz and a very attractive waiter.

Started cycling a lot, which continued to be a theme throughout the summer. Also did my longest run ever: 8km. Wish I didn't completely give up on it in June!

May:

Streamed Shitty Rockets on Twitch with Rob. It was a 3-episode show with us drinking wine, me building very bad rockets, and Rob building very good rockets. We had a total of 6 viewers and it was a smashing success.

Mum visited London for her birthday, and we had a park squirrel climb on her trousers. Too cute.

Sleepover night with Neha and we put face masks on and binged entire Master of None season 2. So much heart break.

BBQ season! Went to visit team in Poland, stayed in a fancy hotel with a fancy bathtub, failed to manage to turn the bathtub jets on.

June:

Rode my first ever 75km+ bike ride!

Went to LeadDev conference in London, and discovered a tea that became my staple this year: Twinings Superfruity.

Got a silly t-shirt bike tan on my shoulders and became highly competitive on Strava leaderboards 💪

Hired and onboard Claire and Anna to work for Django Girls Foundation. Those two ladies have now became irreplaceable 💞

July:

Got promoted from Senior to Principal Engineer at Verve and created a mastery plan together with my boss. Never before felt so supported at work before :)

Traveled to Copenhagen for an extended weekend alone. Spent lots of time wandering the city and cycling to the sea and back. Really enjoyed this relaxing time.

Celebrated Django Girls' third birthday by reading #IAmDjangoGirl tweets from all over the world: #IAmADjangoGirl hashtag on Twitter

Went on Tinder dates 🙈

Saw cricket game with work people :)

August:

Perfected my carbonara recipe

Participated (& won, just sayin') a really funny scavenger hunt day at work to celebrate our next round of funding. This was probably the most entertaining day of 2017!

Spent a weekend learning old-school real brush calligraphy with Ola on a workshop taught by two of my favourite artists. So relaxing!

Cuddled a tiny kitten, picked fresh berries from a bush, swam in the swimming pool, walked around and enjoyed summer a lot.

September:

Went to Wills and Danielle's wedding. Enjoyed dressing fancy and catching up with old friends.

Died my hair pink and went to a Bestival with work people. Thoroughly enjoyed the music, the people, the atmosphere or even the rain and mud. That weekend changed my life 💞

After a pretty stressful week, I travelled for a 5 days long work retreat. Had plenty of fun and loved meeting colleagues from over the sea! New activites include: sleeping in a glamp, golfing from a roof top, off-road segwaying and jumping to a pool at 2am.

Said goodbye to the cats who went to Spain to live with Wojtek. Very bitter moment!

Went to Italy with two of the best people in the entire world. Cut myself out of work and most of the internet to eat pizza, pasta, ice cream, tomatoes and fish. Swam in the swimming pool, picked veggies from our garden, learned how to make pizza, visited plenty of cute little villages, spent a night on a ferry with wine and sandwiches, road-tripped through South Italy and topped it all off with swimming in the sea on a white beach. OMG. Peak happy for the year :)

October:

Got diagnosed and started treatment for insulin resistance. This has been a difficult road so far, but getting a diagnosis after years of fruitless searching was a huge relief.

Celebrated months of intense work with a 9-course dinner and a truly amazing karaoke night. Suffered for it the next day,

Spent lots of time searching for a new flat and then finally found a dream one with Rob.

Bought a pom-pom jumper. Event important enough to be highlighted here, of course!

November:

Did lots of cooking to discover how to enjoy eating on my new diet. Really enjoyed getting to know new tastes!

Moving a house is an endeavour so much of the month was spent on preparing for it then doing it and then making the new house into a home while maximising the fairy lights to available space ratio. Made it into a cosy place that brings a lot of happy feelings now!

Struggled at work and in life finding a place for myself and challenge to look forward to.

December:

Got my first real Christmas tree in London, which turned the house into a place I want to spend even more time in! Also started discovering all the cool places in the neighbourhood.

Saw Josh Ritter again, this time in a very different setup playing with his band. Still amazing! It’s exciting to see him so excited to perform. 

Spent a bit of time self-discovering what I want to achieve next at work with Brad's help and created a plan which I'm excited for.

Introduced Rob to my family! Spent a really nice but also a stress-inducing at times week at home in Poland.

Got completely addicted to Stardew Valley to the point when it hurt my wrists to continue playing it 🙈

Read lots of books which brought lots of calmness into my life.

Spent New Year's Eve in the best company I could ever think of and kicked of a year with a carbs-free pancakes :)

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Spent a week in my happy place with a permament smile stuck to my face. Highlights: - Hanging out with my sister and a friend - Seeing Kasia - It snowed! We had a snowball fight. - All that skiing!! - Mulled wine - Delicious food - Hot springs! - Views. 😍 - Not looking at email or Twitter for a week Posting this as a reminder to do this more often. Holidays are amazing 🙌

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The best cocktail

Ok, so to get one thing straight and out of the way: the best cocktail ever is a Basil Rickey served in 715 in Lawrence, Kansas. That’s cucumber-fennel gin, basil, lavender syrup, orange bitters, soda water. You also need to add some Jeff and 40 Celcius degree weather for the full effect, but you get the idea.

So last summer I got a bit into cocktail making business, because cocktails are great but it’s generally bullshit that you have to pay 10 quid for them. I forgot to make the Basil Rickey, so I’m gonna figure out this recipe this year. Stay tuned till summer.

In the meantime, this is the best cocktail that I can actually do: 

Strawberry Basil Collins. 

Muddle few strawberries with few basil leaves and 0.50z of simple syrup. Add 10z of lemon juice and 20z of gin. Shake with ice. Pour into a glass through a strain. Top with soda water. Put some strawberries and basil in to make it look fancy. 

Voila! Enjoy.

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Things I’m loving right now

- Afternoon naps (or any naps, really) - Purring cats - Drinking lemon tea - Slurping chicken pho - Walking with happy music in my ears - Smiling and laughing out loud - Watching Jim and Pam - Missing the view of the sky full of stars - Taking hot bubbly baths - Board game nights with friends - Cooking beans - Looking at fairy lights - Dreaming of summer days - Sticking to a budget - Carefully choosing which fucks to give - Wearing jumpers that feel like blanket - Travelling to see people and places, not conference rooms - Dancing when nobody watches (or when they do!) - Making plans and following through

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Today I want more of that in my life

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2016!

2016 was a challenge.

I made the decision to change two of the most important things in my life, and it consumed all of my energy for the better part of the year. Eventually it made me happier, stronger and closer to many people in my life. I’m happy about listening to my heart this year and learning to prioritise what’s best for me.

I’m happy about making so many new friends this year. London suddenly become very difficult to leave behind :) I also took a lot more time to actually chill, rest and enjoy life this year. I’d call this “wasting time” even few years ago, but this year it’s been very intentional, and I hope it’s going to continue.

In 2017, I’ve decided to take a hiatus from organizing conferences. In the last 5 years there hasn’t been a time in which I wasn’t involved in the organization of at least one event. It gives me a lot of joy to do it but I’m also very curious to see what will fill that empty space and time in 2017. I’m looking forward to doing more traveling just for pleasure, not business.

I’ve done this kind of thing in 2014 and 2015 before. Here goes 2016!

January

With the beginning of the year I jumped head first into helping organize DjangoCon Europe 2016. I wasn’t planning to be heavily involved in DjangoCon that year, but life happens and so I was.

Thanks to Ola’s Christmas gift for me, I finally picked up calligraphy and spent this month happily doodling away. It taught me a lot about slowing down and patience.

The fresh breath of New Year’s energy got me motivated to try running, and I managed to go running 11 times consistently this month. I wish I kept my consistency up throughout the year but I had ups and downs which I’ve grown to accept and move on.

Potato bought a whole leg of jamón for the office which I thought was notable enough to mention here.

I worked on and published the first Django Girls Annual Report which was important step towards more transparency and showing off the impact the organization makes.

Re-discovered that cycling to work makes me a lot happier.

February

DjangoCon mad rush continued throughout the February, but it was PyCaribbean that was the highlight of the month.

I flew to Dominican Republic to keynote the first PyCaribbean event. The event and all the people I’ve met there have been incredibly welcoming and friendly.

I also spent a week there Just Doing Nothing™, reading books and getting tan. Still in awe of the incredible beauty of that place. Never seen more mesmerising sea or palm trees.

Got hooked into Serial podcast which is still one of my favourite things to listen. Season 1 was incredible.

Helped kick off an office Game of Murderer, and had plenty of fun doing it.

March

On the last few days of my Dominican Republic trip, my beloved grandma passed away. Never regretted more that I wasn’t there for her. I flew to Poland straight after getting back to London.

Other than that, March turned into a blur. I took some time off to help Dad figure things out. I did some work for DjangoCon Europe. I’ve run. Did calligraphy.

Launching Django Girls Store brought me plenty of excitement. It’s something I’ve been trying to do for months and it took plenty of concentrated energy to ship. So happy to see it sailing smoothly now.

April

I went to Budapest! Took a night train from my hometown, and loved the experience. Sleeping in an actual bed while on a train felt very magical for some reason.

DjangoCon Europe went smoothly (well, almost, but no one realized!). It was also so so exhausting emotionally. I learned a ton about handling Code of Conduct issues that week.

Budapest is a lovely city. I loved the wine, the food and meeting so many fantastic friends.

I discovered the awesomeness of avocado toast with a poached egg while in Bristol.

We went to enjoy a picnic on a Brogdale Farm with Ola and Tomek and I loved every little bit of that trip.

Ola, Helen and I made Django Girls London happen, and yet again it was filled with laughter, hugs and confetti.

May

Discovered that my cortisol levels are up to the roof, so decided to give myself more breaks for the summer.

May was a chilled & wonderful month. It is my favourite month every single year.

I went to Poland to spend birthday with my mum.

Me and Ola went to Tel Aviv to keynote PyCon Israel, and we had a fantastic time there. The city is beautiful, food was amazing, and people oh so friendly. It was really fun to be there with Ola to have a bit of time just for the two of us as well.

Instagram reminds me that I spent a lot of time petting my cats, making pink cocktails and cooking green soups. Sounds like May!

I’ve read this fascinating piece on the tech industry.

June

Got obsessed with asparagus.

Enjoyed summer in London, hanged out on my pretty balcony a lot, and made even more cocktails.

Woke up with a gut wrenching feeling in my stomach to learn that UK voted for Brexit. That was such a sad week.

Missed a flight to New York City for a Creative Mornings workshop that I was so excited about. London got flooded and all of the possible transportation options didn’t cooperated with me to get to the airport on time. I was really sad about it, but then Ola surprised me with a watermelon and everything was good again.

July

I took three weeks off work in July, which led to some soul searching.

Spent two wonderful weeks in Poland. Summer in Poland is the best, and I was happy to have a chance to show my favourite places in Warsaw to some friends who never been there before.

Played plenty of Pokémon Go.

Travelled to Philadelphia and gave a talk at DjangoCon US. It was my first DjangoCon US, and I really enjoyed getting to know people I haven’t had a chance to hangout before. All that warm evenings on a porch, lollipops and ice cream were fantastic as well.

Spent a weekend in Brooklyn with friends I haven’t seen since I moved to London. Candlelight watermelon & wine dinner on the rooftop overlooking Manhattan is one of my favourite memories of this year. I could see myself living in Brooklyn one day.

Made a decision and follow through signing up for something I had huge anxiety about for months. One of the best decisions I made this year.

Wrote and published Django Code of Conduct open documentation that transparently describes how DSF Code of Conduct committee works.

August

The roughest month this year (or in the last few years, for that matter). Month of change, crying, sleeping and difficult decisions. Mostly just hibernated and did some really sad runs around London to let go of bad energy.

Actually the month when I’ve run the most in the year, sometimes as much as 8km in one run. But it wasn’t the kind of running I enjoyed.

Went to visit Potato’s team in Bristol, and loved the vibe of this city in the summer. Saw double rainbow.

Did a lot of work to organize Django: Under the Hood.

September

One word: busy. Month of travel, Django: Under the Hood preparations and gut-wrenching search for a new place to call home in London.

Visited Poland briefly to hug my family and visit a dentist.

Went for a day trip to Cambridge and had a wonderful time walking around this sunny city.

Spent a fantastic week in Tenerife with the Potato family. Got a chance to spend more time hanging out and getting to know people who are now really good friends. Some really wonderful memories made there.

Saw the new Ghostbusters twice. So. good.

Django: Under the Hood continued to keep me busy.

October

I didn’t travel anywhere!

Said goodbye to my old flat, and moved to a new one. Cats made my life miserable by not letting me sleep at night for 2 weeks.

Attended the wedding of the most awesome couple in the world. Ate all the food later.

Had a lovely time with sister visiting me in London.

Assembled an IKEA furniture all by myself. Huge milestone.

Made my new home feel like home.

Spent countless hours on repetitive manual labor for Django: Under the Hood. Totally worth it!

Tweeted a feminist thing that went viral

Shared the same fantastic article on Twitter multiple times.

Wrote two infinite loops in my code on the same day.

November

Hosted a good friend in London. Plenty of good food, wine and walks.

Spent a week in Amsterdam organizing Django: Under the Hood and then chilling out with the organizing team for 2 more days after that. Really love Amsterdam, despite the fact how cold and rainy it is in Amsterdam. Volkshotel was really fun again. It was great to catch up with friends as well. Had a secret onesie party.

Had a magical dinner in a cottage near Amsterdam. Everyting about that night was amazing.

Saw Arrival in the cinema. Best movie I saw this year.

Parted ways with Potato and started a new job at StreetTeam. Leaving Potato was one of the hardest decisions this year, but I’m happy that I got out of my comfort zone and challenged myself more. Potato is a wonderful place full of amazing people. I felt homesick for few weeks after leaving.

December

Mostly heads down, figuring out & finding myself in the new job.

Spent a lot of time with friends and pla on many awesome board game nights. Went to two very different but both very fun Christmas parties.

Invested significant time into Django Girls, trying to find new ways to scale and bottlenecks holding us back. It’s been sometimes emotionally difficult but rewarding to get stuck into this again.

Screamed my lungs out at massive Christmas songs karaoke in London. Lost voice shortly after.

Spent 10 days with a family back in Poland. The most relaxing and warm trip in a while.

Hearts, confetti and cat snuggles.

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I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings.

Mary Oliver (via lindaliukas)

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Django Girls turns 2!

Two years ago today, Ola Sendecka and I kicked off our first Django Girls workshop at EuroPython in Berlin. Today, we’ve got an honour to attend Django Girls’ 175 workshop at DjangoCon in Philly.

I couldn’t imagine a more wonderful partner in crime than Ola. Our endless gratitude also goes to amazing Lucie and everyone who contributed even an hour, or sometimes a year of their life to help almost 6000 women all over the world experience the pure joy of coding. 

So here is to the next two years, and a tiny little hope than in two years Django Girls will not need to exist anymore. Let’s do this! 🍾

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Lee Crutchley

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Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Alice in Wonderland

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Someone who shows up with enthusiasm made a decision before she even encountered what was going on. The same thing is true for the guy who scowls with contempt before the customer opens his mouth. It’s a choice. This choice is contagious. This choice changes what will happen next. This choice is at the heart of what it takes to be successful at making change or performing a service. More than you imagine, we get what we expect.

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I think the currency of leadership is transparency. You’ve got to be truthful. I don’t think you should be vulnerable every day, but there are moments where you’ve got to share your soul and conscience with people and show them who you are, and not be afraid of it.

Howard Schultz

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Strange how one person can saturate a room with vitality, with excitement. Then there are others… who can drain off energy and joy, can suck pleasure dry and get no sustenance from it. Such people spread a grayness in the air about them.

John Steinbeck