Life of Jana

I thought I'd write a quick post to answer a few questions I've been asked since I first told my relatives, friends, and coworkers that we were moving to Australia. Why are you leaving the UK? Why did you decide to move to Australia? Tristan and I had discussed moving to Australia but we didn't have a timeline or a specific plan around how or when this would happen. The decision to work towards moving came when I was pregnant with Saskia. I was 6 weeks into my pregnancy and following a four week holiday in Australia, was feeling very overwhelmed and had lots of mixed feelings. I have always felt pretty isolated in the UK - all of my family lives in Estonia and Tristan's family is in Australia. When Saskia was born we knew that this was it - the perfect time to move. I have a few very good friends here (shout out to Marianne and Almu) and Manchester has been our home for almost 10 years now but after weighing all the pros and cons (also considering Estonia briefly

Alpha-H is an Australian skin care brand - one of the most important things I am currently looking for in a brand is how sustainable they are and Alpha-H seems to tick all of the boxes. Almost 40% of their tubes and bottles are made from recycled material and the bottles themselves are recycleable. Their products are not tested on animals and they are paraben, silicone and SLS free. I have been especially happy with two of their products that I have been using over the last two months! Alpha-H Triple Action Cleanser with Thyme - 200ml / £25 This cleanser contains soothing Cucumber, hydrating Aloe Vera and the powerful natural anti-bacterial agent, Thyme. It is suitable for all skin types: normal, oily, combination and problematic. Why I like it It's gentle and safe to use over the delicate eye area. I had to be very careful with my previous cleanser, as it made the skin around the eye so rough and dry. With Alpha-H I can wash my whole face. I have slowly started t

Over a month has passed now since I posted about getting ready to leave and we can finally say that we will be arriving in Australia next month! We've been super productive so here's a quick moving update. Packed boxes - Our main goal was to sort out everything we wanted to take with us and pack things away as soon as possible, as we had to book a moving company and give them an approximate size and number of boxes to pick up. There are still things left to sort out but we hope to have our boxes picked up at the beginning of next month. Hopefully they'll get there by the time we have our own place.  Tristan found a job - Can I just say at first how proud I am of him! He started looking for a job about a month ago, almost immediately received a positive response and they set up a job interview with him via Skype. He did so well, they wanted another Skype interview and offered him a position at the end of that call. Luckily he has some time off once we arrive, so we can

  MÁDARA City CC Anti-Pollution CC Cream SPF 15, Light Beige - 40ml (RRP €27) This anti-pollution CC cream corrects all skin tone imperfections, including dullness, redness, sallowness and dark spots. It's very light in texture and gives a nice natural coverage. As it shields the skin from urban toxins and heavy metals that clog pores and damage and inflame the skin, this CC cream is literally perfect for the life in the city. It contains hyaluronic acid, which should be deeply hydrating but unfortunately I feel like it's still not doing enough for me, so I apply it over my daily moisturiser. I also like to mix it into my liquid highlighter to get a creamier consistency and to make the application of my highlighter easier.  The SPF15 coverage is perfect for me here in UK. At first, my super sensitive skin can't handle much on my face, and secondly I am naturally quite tanned and don't burn very easily. If they ever change the formula though, I would love t

This is a very personal story but I wanted to write about what has been a really  emotional journey for me and thought that maybe this post could help someone who is going (or has gone through) the same thing. When I was a teenager my mom took me to see a gynaecologist, as I had not had my period yet. I remember being so scared - especially so because it wasn't just my normal first time check-up. From the beginning I felt that there was something wrong with me. After my doctor examined me (it was a pelvic ultrasound, no external exams), she said she couldn't give me a full diagnosis but I remember something being said along the lines of early menopause and infertility. Honestly, it did not make much sense to a 15-year-old.   I was prescribed a contraceptive pill to help trigger my period. There was no proper explanation as to why or how it would help and I had to take notes for everything, from when my period started and ended, to my moods and how I felt in general. For so

Tristan and I have been in a relationship for 7 years, we have a beautiful daughter together and have never been apart from each other for more than a week! We have always talked about moving to Australia at some point but since having Saskia, we hurried up with the move. We started filling out the online application for my Australian Partner Visa 309/100 in early December 2018. We slowly read through every question and filled in all of the details, page by page. It is impossible to fill it all out in one go, there are like 26 pages! It's a good thing you can save the form and come back to it another time.  Once we reached the page where we had to provide statements (nature of the couple's household, social aspects of the relationship, nature of the couple's mutual commitment to each other, etc) we decided that I would complete each section - later we would check them together and Tristan planned to add anything I missed. There are 5 sections at about 2000 words each. T

We are moving to Australia! After 9 years of living in the UK, Tristan and I have decided to pack our bags and leave Manchester. We will be moving at the end of October this year and as we want our move to go as smoothly as possible, we have lots of things to sort out! Since I became pregnant with Saskia, we talked a lot more about moving to Australia. Tristan and I have no family here in the UK and we wanted Saskia to be closer to her relatives. On the 10th of February we finally lodged our Partner Visa 309/100 application. We were told it could take up to 19 months to receive a response. As we were patiently waiting, on the 11th of June after 4 months I received my grant letter! :) So here is how things have been going so far. After I received my visa, we shared the news with our friends and family. There are definitely mixed feelings from my side of the family - I am moving even further away from Estonia but they have always known about our plans and understand our deci

This cute set of 3 handmade headbands was a gift to Saskia from my friend whose sister owns a hair accessory shop called O&OJ. I have always been a bit sceptical about hair accessories; sometimes it looks painful when a baby is wearing a bow or hairband as it looks too tight. I didn't think I would have Saskia wear bows until she was a few years older but I found myself putting these on her anyway! I had not tried any other hair accessories on Saskia before, so I didn't have much to compare but these are beautiful on her. The quality is amazing and they feel very soft and gentle on the head.  This is their Baby Blush set which includes a grey felt bow, metallic pink faux leather bow and pale pink faux leather bow. Saskia at 3 months Saskia at 15 months They have a wide range of different styles and collections (like Christmas, Easter, Halloween) and also other hair accessories (headbands, bows, hair bobbles). Here is a link to their web page i