Wednesday, December 30, 2009


Pretty Paintings

Sorry I didn't post anything for the last two days, but I'll make it up to you with some amazing artwork, ok? It's by Kris Lewis who has the amazing ability to make his art realistic, whilst still making it look painted, as well as dreamy and mythical.


I guess the only not so perfect thing I could come up with would be that most of the women look so sad, but maybe that juxtaposition is what I love in art, creepy and cute or in this case gorgeous and sad.


As you can see he uses a lot of tattoos in his art, mostly of flowers. It seems like such a hard thing to do, painting tattoos. I have yet to try it out and anticipate on it taking lots of practice.


One final note on the subject, you might have guessed it: wallpaper-backgrounds, and Kris Lewis has lots of them.


Just a Little Update

I'm still cleaning like crazy and that's part of the reason I've been neglecting my blog a little. I'll even continue tomorrow but will definitely take a break on New Years Eve, which I thought I'd be spending at home watching television. But there has been a major change of plans when I got an email today saying I won 2 tickets to a New Years event with:

the Sugarhill Gang!

Yeah, the ones from "I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you don't stop!"
Isn't that awesome? I was secretly wishing I could see them perform, but would never buy tickets too an event like that, especially when those tickets cost 65 euros (almost $100) a piece. I hope it will all go as planned, the thing is they start at 3 and perform for only 30 minutes. I'm not sure I can make it till that late (or is it early again?) and chances are the venue's full of tipsy people who they might not be in their best mood... I'm planning on going there with my mom, but she doesn't seem too keen on having to drive their in this weather and the fact that it's so late and most people will be drunk. So I'll keep my fingers crossed! I'm still excited though.

Sunday, December 27, 2009


Feel Good Food

I had some pretty good food these past few days, I hope you had too. Here are some things I ate during Christmas:

These cute and delicious Christmas chocolates:

This is what I had for dinner, home made french fries, carrots and scallops with white wine and truffle sauce. Although it wasn't as expensive as it sounds, it sure was as delicious.


And for dessert we had this lovely chocolate icecream with a macaron on top.


Just a Little Update

I was planning on opening my etsy today, but as I should have expected, things weren't as easy as I thought. Turned out even though PayPal is enough for buying, I needed a creditcard to become a seller, so there's a slight delay. I'll open as soon as possible, though. I'll keep you posted...

Saturday, December 26, 2009


I'd love to...

>open my etsy tomorrow
>finally get some pictures printed again
>watch Avatar





Friday, December 25, 2009

*Christmas and Resolutions*

Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a fabulous time. I spent the whole day cleaning and tidying, but I've been enjoying myself in spite of my allergic reactions to the dust. I guess my new year's resolutions turned out to be more end of year plans. But I'd rather start with a clean house than start with cleaning my house. I have some more resolutions and now might be the right time to share them:

* take every chance I have to be creative.
I've often spent my precious time with other stupid stuff because I thought painting or making jewelry would cause a mess or because I thought I had other things to do that were more important. But they aren't and I learned that lesson the hard way. But now I know I should always take the time to do the things I love.

*don't overthink things or fret about them for to long
I have a tendency to feel guilty about the tiniest things and to be honest it's not doing anybody any good, so I should finally stop doing that for once and for all.

*prioritize and don't leave things for to long
Even though I know I should just clean up my laundry once it's done or things like that, it's easier said than done. I hope 2010's the year I finally act on those thoughts

*keep blogging and making things for my etsy
I guess that one speaks for itself.

*don't be afraid to use my pretty stuff
This goes for notebooks, but also many other things. Yesterday I opened the box I have with all my stuff from Japan and noticed there were a lot of pretty things in there I never dared to use in fear of damaging them, which isn't even relevant, because I take great care of all my stuff and hardly ever break anything. And what good is it when I never see it? So I took some things out and am already enjoying them far more. It was a pretty good wake up call.

Last but not least:
*just have lots of fun!
I plan on making this an awesome year, I'm gonna start my schooling that will help me become an art teacher, I'm looking forward to what I'll learn and all the new people I will meet. I have piles and piles of great books to read and movies that are yet to be seen and I know internet has just shown me a small portion of what is yet to be discovered.

I am ready for the new year and am already inspired, I hope to keep that feeling for a while and stay as motivated as I am right now.

Anyway I hope you are having an amazing Christmas, whether it's on your own, with your cat or with your entire family. Have some delicious dinners, I know I will, and let me know how it was and what your resolutions and plans are for next year.


Lovely Movies


Since it's Christmas a Christmas movie seems appropriate. One of my favorite's is "Elf" about Will Farrell who plays a human raised as an elf. I think it's hilarious and really cute . Elves, pixies and fairies, I love them all, so I liked this movie even prior to watching it. It did, however, live up to my expectations. I was afraid it might be over the top and not my type of humor. But it proved to be a great Christmas movie and Will Farrell does an amazing job at getting inside an elf's head. Although we can't know for sure of course.

Thursday, December 24, 2009


Wishlist

Although I love to do creative things and often do them without hesitating or really thinking, there are some things, such as drawing (but not painting somehow), that I often don't dare in fear of failure. I know it's stupid and I should just do it but I guess It's an emotional block. It seems I'm not the only one 'cause books on that matter are currently popping up like mushrooms. I find them very inspiring and unique and they can teach you great things about creativity and life.


You might know Keri Smith's "Wreck This Journal", it's a book that tries to loosen you up on a creative level, with little drawing exercises and a fair share of demolition. I've had that one for a while now and even though I find it hard to everything, I still enjoy the book very much. So much that I'm already dying to get one of Keri's other books "How to be an explorer of the world" which teaches you to view the world in a different way and notice the little things more often.



I'm currently reading a lovely little book by Dan Price on "How to make a journal of your life". It seemed like a great book to read because I'm addicted to buying notebooks I often don't write in them because I can't seem to fill them the way I wish I could. I also have another book he wrote on my wishlist: "Radical Simplicity". Which teaches you to live a happy life with less.


Another book I'd love to read is " the Creative License" which could offer a solution to the drawing problem and looks like it could be a lot of fun.

There must be many more on these subjects, have you read any good ones?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009


Pretty Paintings

You know how I love creepy and cute art and you might have noticed I'm a sucker for perfectly painted pretty wallpaper on paintings. Now Natalie Shau doesn't exactly make creepy and cute art, this is just plain creepy. However it does have the wallpaper and it's also just gorgeous in general.

I would kill for that cabinet and I love all the secret chess pieces she hid in it.
This painting reminds me of the dead mouse I found today, it was completely intact, nearly just bones but it still had a position like it was alive, weird isn't it? I hope I don't creep you out. I know it's morbid, but it was still beautiful. I certainly didn't see that one coming when I woke up this morning.


One word: wallpaper

And I have to add that a dark fairy tale has a way of spicing things up a little, too. Ok, a lot.


Of course I think anything would probably look better with an owl, but this painting would look even more awesome with one, maybe even a flying one to make the whole thing even more alive.


Lastly I had to put this one in because I was so impressed by the way she painted the birds:

Tuesday, December 22, 2009


Owl Things Considered

Today I thought I'd just put up some pictures of owl bags. Although bags WITH owls can be very cute and pretty, I've limited today's pictures to owl shaped owl bags. And somehow they're all leather and vintage (looking).






Monday, December 21, 2009


Marvelous music

Last week I introduced you to Emiliana Torrini, this week I'd like you to hear someone who often opens for her at her shows: Lay Low.


Lay Low, aka Lovisa, who bears a striking resemblance to Parminder Nagra is a singer/songwriter with a very unique style. I first heard her song "Please Don't Hate Me" and it's still my favorite song of her's till this day.



She has released two cd's and I got my hands on both in a very weird/"meant to be" kind of way. I was at her show and they only sold the cd above(with the three lovely little owls). Of course I bought it, but I also asked if they had the other one, which happened to have my favorite song on it, they didn't. After the show I was chatting with a friend in the lobby and all of a sudden they had the second cd, so I bought it quickly and when I looked over my shoulder after barely a minute, they only had her second cd again, isn't that weird!? I haven't even listened to the cd I bought first because it's in an envelope, I should open it so I can finally hear it; but I have listened to the cd I so magically acquired.


This was a picture I took at her show opening for Emiliana:

Here's the song so you can finally hear for yourself where all the fuss is about:

Sunday, December 20, 2009


Just a Little Update

You might have noticed I changed my banner. I was working on my etsy(, which will be opening soon, definitely this week,) and wanted to create a banner for it. Turns out my keyboard and mouse gave up on me, which meant I could not edit foto's and make a banner, or do anything else on my computer. (The only way was to use this tiny laptop mouse which had to go in the usb port, so I had to work on the floor. You guessed it, I didn't go for that approach.) So I used my mom's computer which doesn't have any editing options and surfed the web. It was quite hard to find a decent working banner maker, but eventually it started coming together. So now I have a banner for my store. And although it wasn't what I had in mind, I kinda like it.

I felt like I was on a roll, so decided to make one for my blog that matched the one for the store, but also gave a hint of what the blog's about. I take it you've seen the end result, so what do you think?

Here's a close up of the picture:


I was already feeling psyched because everything's going so fast with my shop, but I feel even happier knowing this is my:

50th post!

And because it is, I thought I'd let you take a peek of what I've been working on and will be put up for sale.


There's more to come soon, this is just to give you an idea. You can also see a little on the tiny picture on the banner itself, if you're interested.

And when I said I was crocheting my butt off, I meant it, in fact I got a lot done today, while watching my first 4 hour opera. It was a long sit, but worth it, both opera and crochetwise.

So far I only have things crocheted for the shop, but I'm working on some other ideas, which will come in time. First things first.


Feel Good Food

Whether it's for breakfast or for lunch I love eggs and love to try and make new things with them. I already told you I love an egg in a basket, but last week I found something new when I was scanning the fridge for something that would work with eggs on bread. It seemed an odd combination, but I decided to try goats' cheese, not the hard kind, I already knew that was good, but the soft, salty, even a little sour kind. I put some ham on it as well and the result blew my mind, it was so tasty, I didn't even had to add salt or peper. I've made it quite a few times since then and made it as breakfast for my mom today, so she could try it too. It was a great succes and I'm sure we'll enjoy it a lot in the future.


So how did I make it?
First off, you'll need to know how to poach an egg. I found that the easiest way is to:
1. boil water
2. crack the egg in a glas
3. pour the egg in a ladle (pouring it directly from the glass into the water can cause you to get burned by splashing water, believe me, I tried it.)
4. gently pour the egg from the ladle into the water (don't hold the ladle under water, 'cause the egg will stick to the ladle
5. let it simmer for 4 minutes


Now for the rest of the sandwich:

You can use any bread you like really, I've tried a slice, pita bread, ciabatta and they all were delicious. Make sure you bake/toast/heat it so it's done just before the egg is finished.
Then put the goats' cheese on the bread and put the ham or bacon on it and the egg on top. Voila!

Or which is nice too, If you've baked a slice of bread in butter and want to use regular ham instead of bacon, put the egg on before the ham. Then lay the ham on top, flip it and bake it just a few seconds.

Enjoy or in Julia Child's (I still think about that movie every once in a while) words: bon appetit!



Friday, December 18, 2009


Lovely Movies

I went to see Julie & Julia a few days ago and it was truly lovely, better than I thought it'd be. Of course Meryl Streep is always amazing, even in movies that aren't that great. And Amy Adams is one of the what I like to call new-genaration-Meryl-Streeps. An actress who brings more to the table than just a pretty face. I first saw her in Sunshine Cleaning and after that I was determined to watch more of her movies.


Even though I expected it to be a good movie, I would never have guessed that it was hilarious at times and that it had such a great feel good-factor, although that does decrease a little during movie.


What struck me is that both husbands were so sweet, not something you find that much in movies, nor in real life for that matter. Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina both did an excellent job at playing them as well.

Anyway it was a lovely movie and the fact that it's based on two true stories made it extra special.

Here's the trailer for you to enjoy, unless you've seen it already, of course:

Thursday, December 17, 2009


Wishlist

I'm a huge fan of the Philips Living Colors lamp, which enables you to light your house in 16 million different colors. I wanted the big translucent one, but eventually persuaded my mom to by a silver "mini" when it was on sale. I've had it for about 6 months now, and haven't used it at all, I only tried it out once. Turns out I don't have the space to put it in front of a wall. And the big downside of the mini is that you can only use the bright light; the bigger one can go anywhere from dimmed to really bright, and I was really hoping for a more dimmed effect. That's part of the reason I haven't used it, although lazyness played a big part too.










Even though I haven't used it, I already have my eye on another, similar lamp. The Mathmos Babushka. They can switch colors as well and can be turned on by "a gentle touch on the top", isn't that lovely? Now take a look and be prepared to drool.


Just a Little Update

I woke up to a white world today, and although I new it could be coming I didn't expect it at all. To me, snow often leads to a cozy day at home, which brings me to the next topic. I still have to leave the house this evening for the final part of my photography workshop. On my way there last time I spotted this little Japanese gallery, I'm planning to get there early today so I can have a peek there as well, it's the ikoi-gallery and it seems pretty cool.

Anyway the photography class was about live photography, at concerts. You got to pick between different genres of music and I chose singer/songwriter, which turned out to have the worst possible lighting. Even some others with way better (read: more expensive) cameras where having lots of trouble.

I went through my shots at home and I think this one came out best:


After going to the concert, well technically not after, since I didn't stay till the very end, I went to the Angelique Houtkamp signing which I told you about earlier. I didn't but the book, but I got a postcard signed and asked someone to take a picture of the two of us.

Here's a picture of the window display:


It was a great day with a lot of lovely unexpected conversations and even a new baboushka ring. And guess what? The doorbell just rang and a package arrived, I've been doing surveys and got a coupon, which was exactly the amount of money for a book I've been wanting to get, so today Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto arrived, totally free.

Also I have a little announcement to make: I'll be opening an etsy store soon. I still have to take some pictures and I hope to have everything done either this week or the next. And then finally, after crocheting my butt, of I'll have some things to show you.

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