It's starting to feel...

No, I'm not singing a christmas song... Today, I went outside to do some errands and suddenly it hit me that spring is on it's way. It may take some time but it's coming. And when I was back home again, I noticed my coffee table and how it looked. I thought it was a great picture so I took my camera and made a picture of it.


In about an hour, I'm going to work but fow now I'm just enjoying seeing the sun shine in our house. Hope you have the time too that too today...

I Wish...

Today I was reading the blog of Jennifer Ramos Madeby Girl and I saw a great picture of an interior of what only could be from a girl whose probably in her early twenties or is young at heart. I fell in love with the way it was decorated and the atmosphere...


I wish that I could decorate our house like this but then I forget 1 thing. There's also a man living in that house and he will feel like he's living in a Barbie doll house. Hm, I wouldn't want him feeling like a Ken doll. It's better to come together in our interior and maybe sometimes put in a little of pink and a feminine touch. That way, we both are happy.

Well, the sun is shining and we are going outside to enjoy it. Hope you all enjoy your weekends too!

Thrift shopping

Today I went thrift shopping, unintenionally. I saw some great candles under EUR 1,80 each but didn't have a tray for it. So I went to the second hand store and bought this Turkish/ Morrocan tray for EUR 0,70. When I got home I cleaned it and put the candles on it but it looked a bit dull so I put this miniature of an canal house on the tray and now it looks funny.


I also bought tulips in several colours so now I'm a real Dutchgirl, complete with tulips!



Talk to you soon!

Den Haag, The Hague

I have been feeling guilty... In my blog, I tell you that I live in The Hague but I never show you pictures of this great city. So today I had the day of and went on my bike and drove around to make a few pictures.

After seeing the inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday, I felt inspired to go to our own Dutch goverment. The building is spectacular...



The archtecture is amazing. Inside the building is a kind of courtyard where everybody can walk.



Outside there's a monument of, I think, William of Orange, but I'm not quite sure. But there was a bird on the head of the monument and it looked like a model, ha ha




Well, that's for now. The next time, I'll show you some other pictures of The Hague, we'll call it Part two...

Where were you when...

Well, it has finally happened... Barack Obama is president of the United States and I'm happy with it. I think it's a good choice and to be honest there was nobody in my surroundings that liked John Mccain so for me it was unlikely that he was the right candidate.


The inauguration will become one of those moments when people will ask you: "Where were you when Barack Obama became president?" For me, I was at work and during my break I watched tv and saw Joe Biden en Barack Obama being inaugurated. Shortly after, I had to go back to work. I saw a small part of his speech and for me the message is "The former guys made a mess of it and now I will pick up the pieces and restore everything". For a split second I thought about that he hasn't got a lot of experience so I'll be interested to see how he will do. But all the best for Barack, he's an inspirational person and we haven't seen that for a while...

Thanks for CBC and the Daily telegraphe for putting the pictures online...

Inspiration

I heard on the radio that today is the most depressing day of the year because the weather here is terrible, summer is far away and people have no more money left this month because they've spend it all on christmas and new years.

Well, after hearing that I want to show you some inspirational pictures of the house of S's mother. We were there yesterday and I made a few pictures of her interior. It really inspires me!


This cabinet is my favourite. I saw one like this in a secondhand shop and the plan is that I'm going to buy it this week and then I have a new project!


This used to be an old oillamp, and now it's a trendy lamp. Love it!


And well the sofa... I would be happy to throw a piece of my own furniture away so that I can put that one in my house. And very important, it sits perfectly for hours!

My home town

Last saturday, I went to see my sisters and have some tea at Monsieur Paul, a croissanterie where I like to go when I'm in Maassluis, the town where I lived for the first 25 years of my life. But before that I made some pictures of the harbour...





The town is nearby the sea so the harbour is important for Maassluis and everytime I'm there, I want to go there and feel the energy and atmosphere. For some reason, It calms me and all kinds of memories come back to me. I think it's a great town to visit in the spring. So whenever you're in the Netherlands....

Winter in The Hague

It has been freezing the last couple of weeks and Dutch people get excited when that happens! This is becaue we have the dream of skating on natural ice. Today, we went to the park nearby and I put my iceskates on and went on the ice!

The sun was shining and a lot of people were on the ice, it was great! After skating we walked around the park and then went back to our house for a cup of hot chocolate and whipped cream! And of course, sitting by the heater...


It doesn't get better than that on a sunday afternoon...

Brussels

Last saturday, S and I went to Brussels, Belgium, to celebrate a late christmas. We both worked both christmas days and didn't see each other most of the days so we made plans to celebrate it together in a beautiful hotel, the Dominican, in Brussels.

We went by train and within two hours, we arrived at Brussels central station and a taxidriver took us to the hotel. S told me that the hotel just opened last year and that it was one of the beautiful hotels in Brussels, but I was pleasantly surprised!


The restaurant


A lounge area in the bar

We stayed in an executive room and I really liked the colourscheme they had chosen.




And what can I say about Brussels? Beside the point that the shopping part was a bit dissapointing, I loved the atmosphere, architecture and the people. While we were there, there was a christmas faire which gave us a real christmas feeling. I tried the Gluhwine (warm red whine where you have to put sugar in) and ate traditional waffles, loved it! and S ate, well this...



Because the weather was cold but sunny, I made some pictures of the city.







On saturday evening, the temperature was so cold outside that we decided to stay inside and had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and it was really good. Als the breakfast in the morning was good, so we really enjoyed ourselves.

It's terrible but on the way back from Brussels, we talked about our next holiday and hopefully we're going skiing in Austria next month. But maybe a new citytrip to stockholm maybe... We'll see. I'll keep you informed!

Happy new year!

I would like to wish you all a beautiful and terrific 2009. Hope you're new years eve was great and that you're ready for the new year.

If I had to give one new years resolution, it would be that I'm going to blog more often that I did the last year. And I hope to hear more from you because sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading about my little life. And because 2009 is going to be my last year in my twenties (yes, next year I'll turn 30!), I promised myself last night to enjoy this year as much as possible because a lot has happened the last couple of years and unlike a lot of women, I can't wait to turn 30 and begin a new chapter in my life! Sounds a bit weird but we can't do anything about aging so you might just as well accept it and enjoy the different aspects of life in different times in our lives.

Well, this turned out a bit more serious than I thought but nevertheless, it's written and I mean every word of it ;-).

Hope none of you have to work today or have to go anywhere and just relax and enjoy the new day of the year!

Talk to you soon!