LED

We recently bought LED light bulbs for the lamps we use most in our apartment. They give a very nice light, are supposed to last for about 25 years, and use up to 80% less electricity than normal light bulbs... pretty neat, no?

This is the lamp we have above the dinner table...

Faceted earrings

When I saw these little beauties and found out how easy it was to make them (here) I went straight to the shops to buy myself some fimo clay. It took a few tries to get it right (but that's the great thing with clay, you can just start again and again until you are fully happy with the result) and I now have three pairs of cute little earrings which I just love wearing.

You can see the ones a merry mishap has made (she sells them in her etsy shop) here. I'm especially fond of the neon yellow, coal and dark purple ones. Mmh, and the ivory ones too actually. I might have to go back and buy more clay...

Sarah's orange cake

Here's the little beauty we took to the park on Sunday afternoon... absolutely delicious and pretty magic as it gets better and better with every day spent in the fridge! We had a piece for dinner; it was divine.

And you know the good news? There's still some left over for tomorrow!

Pollen everywhere

A thin yellow layer covers absolutely everything over here at the moment - it's the yearly pollen attack! I have to say I don't remember it ever being so bad; maybe it's because it hasn't properly rained in days and days, and the pollen just accumulates everywhere.
What's for sure, is that we have all been feeling the effects of it. Mart, Sarah and I spent a large part of our weekend sneezing and sniffling...!

What you see above is the rooftop under our balcony... pollen accumulated in the small puddles there, and when we had a few drops of rain on Saturday it made pretty leopard-like patterns.

They are forecasting showers later this week - fingers crossed they will wash everything away.

Beautiful weekend

Good food all around

Sarah is one of the best cooks I know - and we have been eating amazing food all weekend long. It really makes me nostalgic of the times when we all lived together, and cooked fantastic dishes all the time.

We are off to the park, to eat the orange cake we just baked. Yum yum yum!

Happy Easter everyone!

Together again

My dear friend Sarah is coming to stay with us for the long Easter weekend tomorrow. I can't wait to see her again! Last time we were together was when I visited her in Dublin last year...

Cloudy goodness

Claire sent me the most adorable cookie cutter for my birthday, and I just had to try it out as soon as I could. I also tried Whitney's way of frosting the biscuits, which took a bit of time but looked really cute in the end. The biscuits tasted quite good too, which doesn't hurt!

Old pink

Our little table on the balcony is in dear need of repainting... I had painted it bright pink a few years ago, but the sun and rain have taken their toll on it...

A common birthday present

Mart and I decided to get ourselves a common birthday present this year, namely the brand new IPad 2. We got up in the middle of the night on his birthday to order it (it was the opening of the sales here in Europe), and it got delivered right on my birthday. Perfect timing!

No need to say we absolutely love it already. It's such an impressive device. There are some very cool apps out there, and we look forward to seeing more exciting, interesting and inspiring apps coming out soon. One of my favourite so far is incredibooth, which instantly changes your IPad into a vintage photo booth. It's by the same guys who made hipstamatic, and frankly just as neat!


P.S. Mart got a haircut between shooting the two strips... can you spot the difference? :-)

Happy birthday me!

It was my birthday yesterday. I had such a nice and busy day. Full with beautiful presents, tons of messages from all around the world, sun, sushi, and love... the perfect mix!

This little card was made by my dear friend Claire. Cute eh?

Happy birthday Caitlin!

I made some more wall stickers recently: some dinosaurs for Caitlin's 4th birthday. I hope they will like it up there in their new home in Denmark.

Friends for the antelope

Photos from here.


I wouldn't mind adding these two to our 'collection' (I know, one piece is not a collection yet, but it would be if these two came along...).

Here is their official website. Such a great project, and such pretty animals!

Breakfast colours

We had the same breakfast again. So yummy. And so pretty once it's gone!



P.S. Talking about colours, you should go and take a look at this post and website: it's full of the best colours ever.

reP.S. Yes, the post and website are my mum's. I'm so proud. :-)

Happy birthday Sarah, happy birthday Gavin!

Sarah's in Dublin.
Gavin's in Australia.
And we'll be in Germany in a little while, thinking of both of them on their birthdays.

Someone invent a tele-transporter soon, please?



P.S. the 'jus du jour' is nothing new (my favourite raspberry-orange) but I put it in a bottle to bring it to the party we are going to, and it looked all pink and pretty, so I couldn't resist taking a few photos!

Traveling up North

We are looking at going back to Scandinavia for a few days... I'm so excited!

Sun again

The sun is back today. It makes things so much better!

Rain in the low countries, sun in the alps

It's raining again over here, which is a bit of a disappointment after the beautiful and warm weather we had on the weekend. I wish I was in Switzerland instead, in the alps, with my whole family, skiing...

A recycled antelope from Africa

Lesley, Mart's mum, gave us this beautiful antelope when we were in Sydney. She's made of recycled flip-flops, and comes from Africa.
I'm not sure if she comes from this specific workshop, but here is a video which explains how and why they make these delightful colourful sculptures.

Here are more animals made in the same way.

More printing

When my dad heard I was into printing, he made me a whole collection of wooden pieces to make stamps with. I just used my first one, to make this spotty one. A bit of foam, a few snips, some glue, the all important wooden bit, and that's it! It's so easy; I love it.

itchy-sneezy-sunday

I hardly can stop sneezing - spring is definitely in the air!
I still managed to eat this delicious breakfast though, nothing could stop me eating 'poffertjes'! (Dutch people eat them for dinner with powder sugar, but we like them for breakfast or brunch on the weekend, with maple syrup and blueberries...)

Spring is in the air