Love this lunchroom!

Ahhh, just saw this picture on Facebook: Cake Hole Cafe at Vintage Heaven. I would love to go here, have a coffee and a piece of pie and be in heaven!

In the meantime, I'm at home, looking at great pictures like that!

Eggplant for dinner

Happy weekend everyone! Hope you have great plans!

Yesterday I didn't blog because it was a busy day at work and after that I did grocery shopping, made dinner and then went straigth for the couch and my Ipad! I did however made a few pictures of my day.

To start with breakfast: a easy version of granola. I had some yoghurt left and paired that with five tablespoons with granola, a sliced apple and some cinnamon. Since I'm living a healthier lifestyle, cinnamon has because a reliable and great friend! Like every morning, I had a cup of rooibos tea.




And made lunch to go: three pumpkin yeast sandwiches with chicken breast and a tomato. For later in the day, I'll have a whole wheat sandwich with apple syrup and a banana because I'll be starving and I'll be eating late in the evening.


Which was a good thing that I did because halfway on the way home there was something wrong with my bike, I guess the bycicle chain fell off and I had to walk... Then I had to do groceries, come back and have dinner at 7.30 pm, so to cut a long story short, I needed those carbs!

Dinner tonight was a grilled eggplant with low fat mozzarella cheese, a little bit of Parmesan, tomato and basil. With that I had wokked spinach with onion.


I got this recipe of the blog of Kath eats real food,. This has been one of my favourite meals lately! It really fills me up and you don't need cards like pasta of brown rice with that.


So I saved that for the dessert!


Low fat yoghurt with a little bit of granola, cinnamon and a whole wheat cracker!

Well, I'm about to go to the bakery. I try not to buy bread at a supermarket because the taste is just not the same as from a good bakery, and I'm very picky with bread. Here in the Netherlands, you have so much choice in the different types of bread, from whitter than white to the darkest whole wheat bread. I'm going for that last one but S. likes it a bit more light but still whole wheat. I wondering how it is going to be like when we go to the USA and buy bread over there. I'm guessing that there's more lighter bread but we'll see.

Today I'm relaxing, doing some homework (i have to finish my assignment for school before April 30) and tonight we're going to friends and have dinner at their house. Tomorrow is the big 10 km in Rotterdam, really looking forward to it!

An ordinary day

If I'm working during the week, I have a fulltime job, I leave the the house at around 07.30 am and get on my bike and ride to work. It's about an twenty minute ride so that's easy to do.


Before I leave, I make breakfast and make and pack my lunch. Today I had three pumpkin yeast sandwiches with grilled chicken. I also pack a tomato and at the restaurant at work, I usually have a small salad from the salad bar. I also pack a sandwich with apple syrup for later in the day because I'm going to the gym straight after work and if I don't have anything to eat at around three pm, then I'm for sure going to eat something bad!


So lunch is packed and off to work!




At my desk I have a rolling cabinet with my 'goodie' draw. I mostly have healthy stuff in there: green energy tea from Yogi tea, Matze crackers, rye bread which I usually have a piece of in the morning and some fruit. There's a candy jar in our office but I have hidden it so I'm not tempted to have any!


After lunch, I had a wonderful cappuccino from the coffee place in our office building. the milk is not skimmed but I allow myself one per week and it really helps me feeling full.


I had the sandwich at four but, unfortunately, also a few pieces of chocolate... I was so embarrassed that I didn't take any pictures of it!

I left the office at five, went straigth home, got changed and went to the gym. First I did strength training for half an hour and worked on my legs, arms, back and belly. After that I did some cardio training for 50 minutes but not very intense this time because I'm running a 10 km on sunday and I really don't want any injuries! But is was still good because I burned 700 calories in total!

I was done at 7.30 pm and went home, took a quick shower and had dinner which were leftovers from earlier this week: grilled chicken breast with green beans and brown rice. I gave it a bit more taste with soya sauce and lemon juice.


For dessert, I had a few bites of this:



This is yoghurt with no fat and hardly any sugar. I bought it for S. because I usually never eat this. I mean, no fat and hardly any sugar in it, what is in it then? Although I have to say that I like their coconut flavoured drinking yoghurt...!


So, that's my day for today. I'm working on a grocery list because I'm doing groceries tomorrow after work.

Have a great evening and talk to you soon!

Breakfast during the week

During the week, I wake up at 06.30 am, get dressed and go downstairs to pack my lunch and make breakfast and tea. While I'm eating my breakfast, I read several blogs on the Ipad which are usually American blogs. This means that I can read in the morning all the stories that happened the night before. It is a bit of relaxation before my busy days starts.


I usually have oatmeal in the morning. In the Netherlands there's a brand called Brinta which sells oatmeal that you mix with warm (non fat) milk, it's very easy and simple to make. Lately I also add some extra ingredients to spruce it up a bit: some chia seeds, coconut, a teaspoon of almond butter, a tablespoon of granola and a tablespoon of non fat yoghurt. And for fruit I have an apple on the side.


For me, this is the perfect breakfast because it doesn't take very long and it is nice and warm to start the day.

I'm off to work. It's about twenty minutes on my bike (did you know that the Dutch love their bikes and a lot of them ride on them on the way to work) which means that I get a morning workout and already burn a lot of the calories I consumed in the morning! I highly recommend riding on a bike to work if that's possible for you to do. For me, it's a great way to start the day!

Talk to you soon!

Dinner tonight: chicken with cheese and no carbs?

Tonight I didn't go to the gym. Because I'm running a 10 km this sunday and my muscles don't feel all that fine, I decided to stay at home tonight. This gave me the change to clean the house a bit, fold laundry and cook. This way I'm still doing a bit of exercising (we have a lot of stairs in our home!) instead of sitting on the coach and doing nothing.


S. is usually working four evenings a week, this gives me the change to try different reciped and ingredients that I know he doesn't like. Cheese for example, S. hates it and therefore we normally never have it at home. But we had our mothers over for Easter brunch and I bought cheese for them and we had some leftovers. So I grilled a chicken breast, put it in the oven with a different vegetables and topped it off with a bit of cheese. to give the vegetables a bit more taste, I added soya sauce and lemon juice. it was delicious...



I had no rice or pasta with it which gave the change of having two small slices of Easter bread for dessert. I put it in the oven for a few minutes because we don't have a toaster. The sugar caramalised the bread and I topped it with a little bit of butter. I was in heaven!


Just worked on the layout of my blog, again. it's getting better but I'm still not completely satisfied. Expect to see more changes along the way!

A different lifestyle

While enjoying a nice cup of tea, I thought it was time to give you a little update about what has been going on lately.


Our wedding is coming very soon now, just 6 more weeks and I will be mrs. S! We're getting married at a galerie in the city centre of The Hague, at one of the best locations I've ever been to! The ceremony will take place there and after that a small reception. We'll be with about 40 people so enough that S. and I will have enough time to mingle with everyone.

The honeymoon will be directly after the wedding reception is over! We're going for three weeks to the USA!!! First five days to New York City and then for two weeks to Florida!!! After that, we return to New York and will stay for two days in Brookyn before we go back to Amsterdam. I'm counting down the days as, I'm sure, you can understand! I've been looking on the internet and reading several blogs to get as much information about things to see and places where we have to eat! If you have a great suggestion, let me know!

To look fabulous in my wedding gown (can't show pictures just yet!), I've been working out like a crazy person! It started at the beginning of this year, at first it started out about looking good in The Dress. But then it quickly became about something else. I realised that I've been battling with my weigth since I was 21 years old. And since then it has fluctuated up and down. I have clothes in at least three different dress sizes and that's crazy, right? So I realised that it should not be about just losing the weigth but also to live a healthier life and maintain an active lifestyle.

So weekly, I work out about 4 to 5 times a week: running two or three times a week and going to the gym for about two times a week. Last month, I ran my first 10 km in a race and will participate in another race this weekend and run another 10 km and hopefully beat my first time which means that I have to be faster than 1 hour and 2 minutes. I'm really looking forward to it!

Regarding weigth, I lost almost 7 kilos, which is about 15 pounds, since the beginning of this year! Last year I also lost a lot of weigth but gained a few kilos back again but now my weigth hasn't been this low in about 12 years! I'd still like to loose 2 or 3 kilos and then I would have the same weigth as when I was 19 years old! Can you imagine, this means that throughout my twenties I was allways a bit overweigth! and now in my thirties I'm determined to remain or stay close to this weigth, which is about 70 kilos or about 154 pounds.

I would like to take you on this journey by talking and learning, both you and me, about the right kinds of food and experimenting a lot along the way!
I believe that variety in your food and life is essential to keep those pounds off! Of course, my home and interior is still very important to me so I gues it is going to be more about my lifestyle and how I live my life! I really like that idea and am super exited to let you all back into my life again!

Sorry to keep you waiting but I'm back now and looking forward to hear a lot from you!

Where I was all that time...

If you were wondering where I was all that time? I was out and about, preparing everything for the wedding (in ten weeks, eek!) turned 32 in February and getting in shape! I lost a lot of weight and last week I ran my very first 10 km! It took me 1 hour and 3 minutes and was so very proud!




Furthermore, I haven't done a lot around the house, just been out exercising at the gym and running along the beach. At home, I have done a lot of cooking and discovering a healthy way of cooking. There's more to life than pasta bolognaise, who knew!

I promise to blog more and this time will tell you about the healthy and yummy recipes that I'm trying. Because it isn't about the crash diets, going to the gym for a few months and then stop. No, it's about doing it for the long run (literally!) and give yourself a new balanced and healthy life. I hope you're here with me to enjoy the ride. And don't worry, there's still going to be this around my home and a lot of chocolate and cookies to talk about. I'm finding a new way of life but don't touch my cookies!

From autumn to winter...

It happened before I knew what was going on. Three weeks ago, there were people who stood with their feet in the sea... And now everybody have to put on hats and gloves when they go outside!

I love the autumn and winter. For me it means that I can go inside, create a little nest and enjoy the cold evenings with a blanket, warm clothes and a cup of herb tea. I try to find a photo that represend my feeling about this subject. It took a while and then I found this photo on the Decor8 blog.



Soon it will be christmas and all the beautiful homes in blogland will looks amazing. I can't wait to see photo's of them all! Off course I will try to create an inspiring and beautiful surrounding for us at home. But first we are celebrating Sinterklaas in the Netherlands on December 5. After that then I will start decorating our home and I will show you the result by then.

And what about you, what are your decorating plans? Anything special in mind? Will it be comtemporary, traditional or something in between? I would love to hear and see your plans!

Another colour on the wall

During our holiday in the beginning of October, I painted an old church bench and the back wall. I posted about it and said that I wasn't completely happy with the result of the wall.


Iris gave me some great advise that I partially listened to and painted the wall again but now in a dark blue. It's better but hasn't got the 'Wow factor'. If it was up to me, I would love to paint it in a bright pink/ fuchsia colour but S. would go mad, ha ha!

So what to do... Are there any colours between blue and pink which will be a perfect compromise? Please help me because I don't know...

Old chair make over!

A while ago, I bought this great piece of fabric with cupcakes on it. It posted something about the fabric earlier. There was still some fabric left and decided to do something with it and upholster a chair or something. Now the coincidence was that we sold all of our dining rooms chairs because we bought the church bench. I used one of the dining room chairs in my study so now I really did need a new chair!

So I started to look on the internet and try to find the perfect chair to upholster. But unfortunately, for me there's no such thing as the perfect chair but I did find something that was good for me to practise on.


So I bought an old chair for EUR 1,50, bought paint that was inspired by Yvonne on the Yvestown blog and used the cupcake fabric. The end result is this:


Now, I love it offcourse and it stands proudly in my study! S. said that it will never go in our diningroom and that's just fine. This it a chair, specially for me. Although it would look great in a children's room too. But for now, I'm going to keep it for myself and enjoy it every time that I'm there, studying!


It's really a shame that S. doesn't like pink, otherwise there would be so much more in my favourite colour! Oh well...