Off to Sweden...

Tomorrow my friend Suzan and I are leaving for Sweden. I'm super excited about it because we are going to make a trip by canoe! Eventhough I will be absent, I planned some blogpost featuring some exciting things I found around the web. So, no need to be bored.

See you next week!

Ten minutes painting

Between studying for my last final exams I found a few spare minutes to paint. Eventhough I never saw a kingfisher in real life, they are one of my favorite birds. I don't think they are the prettiest of birds, but I love their odd looks and contrasting blue and orange colors.

Music monday #12

The first composition I heard by Ludovico Einaudi was Nuvole Bianche. From the very first notes I was in love. I love the repetition and slight changes in his music. His music always calms me down and is comforting, but also surprising and full of life. Einaudi has become one of my favorite composers.

Ludovico Einaudi - Nuvole Bianche



Ludovico Einaudi - Lady labyrinth

Pictures of the moon

I have always been fascinated by the stars and space. Whenever I can see the moon, it is a moment for me to slow down and I always feel inspired somehow. The last months I have been taking a lot of photos of the moon. Today I wanted to share a part of my collection ;).

 

Yeah I know, they are not great quality. One day I'll have a better camera ;).

Music Monday #11

Last saturday was the finale of the European song contest Eurovision Songfestival. The past few years the Dutch send singers who I didn't really like, but this year I did. Anouk was the Dutch contestant. I thought she sang beautifully and I loved how simple her performance was. A lot of other participants were wearing prominent outfits or their performances involved a lot of theatre. Anouk just stood on the stage and sang, which is what it's all about. She ended up at the ninth place. I think her song was a little to deep and distinctive to be apreciated by everyone.

Here is her performance of last saturday:
Anouk - Birds


The official videoclip can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPDYbuaXlA8

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Cakes with cinnamon and syrup

Today I made these easy cinnamon and syrup cakes. They were done within the hour and I didn't use an electric mixer!

What you will need:
200 g self raising flour
200 g butter
4 eggs
175 g sugar
3 tbsp syrup
2 tsp cinnamon

How to make them:
Preheat the oven at 150 degrees C. Sift the flower into a bowl. Heat the butter so it gets a little softer. You don't need to melt it entirely. Mash the butter into the flower. Add the eggs one by one and stir. Add the sugar and stir again. Then add the syrup and cinnamon and stir until the mixture is smooth and all the cinnamon and syrup is evenly spread.
Bake the cakes about 30 minutes until they have a nice golden brown color.

Upgraded from skirt to shirt

Today I wanted to sew a piece of clothing, so I started searching for the right fabric in my fabric stack. Everytime I do that, I'm reminded of all the pretty pieces of fabric that I own and always forget. So once again I've got tons of projects in my head.

While searching, I found an old skirt of my mother, that she gave me once to make something out of it because she didn't wear it anymore. When I held it in my hands I realised that I could use it as a strapless shirt. Normally I don't really wear clothes different from how they are 'supposed' to be worn, so this is a new. I've been reading Nadya's blog recently and she does some great things with clothes, so maybe she inspired me a little ;) .

 

Normally I would have chosen a better background for a picture like this, but my room was (and is) a mess.

Music Monday #10

The next days will be extremely bussy, because my final exams are starting today. Just 2,5 weeks and it's over! Hopefully I'll be done with highshool then. I'll try to post some things coming weeks, but don't expect to much! After my final exams are over, me and my friend Suzan are going on a holiday which I'm super excited about. I will tell more about it later.

Well, back to music! Today I wanted to promote some songs from Dutch ground. Both are a little bit older, but I still like them.

Racoon - My town
This is probably one of my favorite songs of Racoon.



Kane - No Surrender
This song makes me feel nostalgic... I used to listen to this so often.

Inspirational audition

Today I was watching some auditions on Youtube from shows like X-factor and Britains got talent. I came along an amazing video that I wanted to share with you; the audition of Jillian Jensen at X-factor USA 2012.
She is so brave to come on tv and share her story of how she was bullied and she sang eventhough she was crying.



People like that, make me want to be just as brave. Eventhough she was probably scared of the reactions she was going to receive, she did it.

Music Monday #9

Acoustic guitars have always been one of my favorite instruments, which you can see in my music taste. Almost all my favorite songs contain guistars.  I play a little piano myself, but one day I'm going learn to play guitar. Today I'm sharing some more music containing guitars.

Ben Howard - Further Away



Michael Franti - Hey world (Don't give up)
On one hand this song makes my feel a little bit sad, but on the other it makes me feel hopeful. I love it.

Get-together with friends

Last saturday me and my friends had decided to watch Alice in Wonderland. Everyone would bring some food. Suzan made scones, Chantalle made muffins, Sophie made a kind of pindarotsjes (peanuts and marshmellows covered in chocolate) and I made chocolate-coconut cake.

Left to right: me, Sophie, Suzan and Chantalle

I had already seen Alice in Wonderland several times, but I still love the movie. It's not just the story that I like, I also love the magical world and the beautiful costumes that are used in the film. Every time I watch it, I get so much inspiration to make things.

After we watched the movie we made pizza en decided to watch an other movie, Into the wild. The story is really tragic, but the film is beautifully made. I still would love to someday live of the land for a short period of time.

Queensday 2013 - The coronation of a new king

Yesterday it was Queensday in the Netherlands and it was the day Queen Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son Willem-Alexander. Now he is our king.

This video is ofcourse in Dutch, but it will give a little impression.

I spend the day selling a lot of stuff at the freemarket with my friend Sophie. We had a blast. Later I saw the ceremony on tv at home and we ate tompoezen (maybe tompouce is a known English word, but I couldn't find a translation). The little princesses looked so cute in their blue dresses and Máxima (Willem-Alexander's wife) also looked stunning.