Let’s start with a little bit more information about me! Seri Notetree is a pseudonym. I considered two things. One was to use my real name and not involve anyone else in my blog. The other was to create a pseudonym and protect the privacy of my friends and family, while still being able to write truthfully and also about them. And as they are a huge part of my life. I chose for the pseudonym.

I live in a small village near a bigger city in The Netherlands. It’s such a small country that you could actually say that everything is near a bigger city but even for Dutch standards we live near a big city.

I have a husband, a daughter, two cats and a lot of fish. I like my husband very much, I’m not really sure if I like my daughter (I do love her, she’s the cutest but she is very young and I’m still getting to know her, she seems nice enough), I don’t like cats (I’m a dog person) and I am a 100% sure that one of the cats really doesn’t like people. I do like all my fish. They’re pretty, don’t scream when they’re hungry, don’t wreck my furniture and they don’t leave a lot of hair flying around my house. I’ll leave it to you to fill in which of my other roomies, do do all the things my fish don’t. And you would be surprised….

My husband is a software developer and we both are lucky to have great jobs. So until recently we had the freedom to travel the world a few times a year and live very comfortably. Why it changed is a long story and something for another post.

I did not live in The Netherlands my whole life and I have traveled a lot ever since I was very little. I spend my youth in Indonesia and I have family living all over the world. At home I speak Dutch and Spanish because half of my family is from South America.

The fact that I have lived in such different environments among so many different cultures may have something to do with my interests being all over the place. If I have to sum up some of my greatest passions and obsessions:

• (outdoor) cooking
• gardening
• taking walks in nature
• photography
• tending to my 300 liter aquarium
• eating at fancy restaurants
• going to the movies
• wine and beer
• literature
• drawing
• painting
• playing games
• metaphysics
• astrology
• sleeping (I dream a lot!)
• writing
• driving
• music & concerts
• collecting stuff (like stones, tarot decks, notebooks, art supplies, books, fish)
• going to museums
• travelling
• snorkeling and scuba diving…

People describe me as a very open and extravert person. I easily get a long with most people (and when I don’t like somebody I’m open about that to…). I’m not someone who thinks something is either black or white, I have always looked for the grey’s in everything and I believe the world would be a better place if more people would too.

Until I got pregnant I would have described myself as a fairly intelligent woman. Now I’m not really sure what is left of that. Weird stuff happens to a woman’s brain when pregnant. Hated it, by the way. It was one of the most shocking discoveries of my life. That shiny pregnancy glow was a thundering  cloud fire of doom and despair in my case. (People would also say that I tend to exaggerate…)

But I do believe that living life means trying things out and appreciating even the worst experiences for the lessons you learned from them. I’m not saying to try everything! No need to try out stuff like breaking limbs, believe me, I tried, nothing good comes from it.