It's Koninginnedag, the Queen's birthday, today. On this special day, throughout the Netherlands, people wear orange and gather in parks to listen to music, eat and drink, but most of all, to sell and buy knick-knacks and antiques. We went for a long stroll in the city, and here are a few of the little creatures we met on our way.
Also, I was fascinated by this box: I would have loved to buy them all to make something like this (we had seen one of them in Italy if I'm not mistaken - it was fantastico!).
Our kitchen table is full of all the chocolates I made during the chocolate workshop that all my colleagues and I joined last night. We had lots of fun and now have enough chocolates to keep us going for weeks!
Anzac day calls for Anzac biscuits. Mart baked and I took pictures and tasted. Yum!
These are some of our favourite biscuits - we had already made them then and then. The recipe comes from Claire and her mum Jo-Ann, who always made them for me when i was living with them... ah, such good memories!
Here are a few specimen of my collection of little 'city creatures' spotted in different cities we've visited. (These ones came from Switzerland - Basel, Morat and Yverdon - and from the Netherlands - Maastricht). My all time favourite is the yellow little captain on the left. Doesn't he look extra sweet and simple?
Fell in love with these today and decided to try and make some at home... Except that I only realised that I was folding the paper the wrong way when I had already used all the tissue paper I had at home! It worked anyway, but didn't look as good as I would have liked it to. Will have to try again when I'll have refurbished my stock of tissue paper (what a good excuse to get nice new colours too!).
I was taking some pictures of the fabulous pillow cases my colleagues got me for my birthday when I noticed that there was a little someone living there... She was a bit shy at first, but it didn't last long!
When taking care of our seedlings on the balcony this afternoon (the tomatoes we planted almost two weeks ago were ready to be transplanted into their own little pots), Mart found this little one growing in between two tiles. It has such a funny and pretty shape, but we have no idea what it could be.
So we put it in its own little pot too, and we'll keep an eye on it to see what it will turn into! Any ideas anyone?
You might remember the numbers I posted as an Advent calendar last December... well, I have lots and lots more, and tonight I decided to sort some of them by colours.
Here is another one of the great birthday presents I received... isn't this bow just adorable? Joanna got it for me during her Easter holiday back home, in Poland - I love it!
We planted tomatoes and wild strawberries last weekend. To Mart's great pleasure, they started coming out early this week - it's quite exciting!
And look at what was in the packet I received from Claire for my birthday yesterday: lots of different seeds, in delightful little packages... It's so pretty and so well thought! Thank you Clairebear!
I'm going to be 'gardening' again this weekend to start seedlings of all of them- we are going to have a wonderful balcony this summer!
An adorable little package arrived from Germany today... I'm really excited and want to open it, but I'll wait until tomorrow morning, when it really will be my birthday. In the meanwhile I will marvel at how pretty it looks.
This afternoon we went to see the Campana brothers exhibition which is currently on at the NAI Maastricht. I had already seen the show at the Vitra Museum in Weil am Rhein, in Germany, but was happy to see it again - the Campana brothers' work is really full of fun and surprises!
The song of the day comes from the movie we saw last night at the cinema: Nowhere Boy (which was a great film by the way, I highly recommended it).
I would have loved to buy them all to make something like this (we had seen one of them in Italy if I'm not mistaken - it was fantastico!).
Our kitchen table is full of all the chocolates I made during the chocolate workshop that all my colleagues and I joined last night. We had lots of fun and now have enough chocolates to keep us going for weeks!
I was looking at photos from a year ago exactly and found these two. 
Here are a few specimen of my collection of little 'city creatures' spotted in different cities we've visited. (These ones came from Switzerland - Basel, Morat and Yverdon - and from the Netherlands - Maastricht).
I was taking some pictures of the fabulous pillow cases my colleagues got me for my birthday when I noticed that there was a little someone living there... She was a bit shy at first, but it didn't last long!
Another post about a birthday present...! I couldn't resist to show you the magnificent neckless I got from Mart.
Here is another one of the great birthday presents I received... isn't this bow just adorable?
I'm going to be 'gardening' again this weekend to start seedlings of all of them- we are going to have a wonderful balcony this summer!
An adorable little package arrived from Germany today... I'm really excited and want to open it, but I'll wait until tomorrow morning, when it really will be my birthday.
I made an apple-coloured garland today, for a special little girl who is going to turn three tomorrow!
