paper bird love songs

T’es la moustache de mon Trotski

2011-03-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

And just like that, it's Spring! So now I feel like I should be outside constantly, doing things, enjoying the sunny weather while it lasts. Tomorrow I'm going to get my ears pierced for the first time (yes, at the ripe old age of eighteen), and I'm quite nervous!

Voor de Nederlandstaligen onder ons: er staat een schrijfsel van mij op VPRO Dorst. Leesleeslees!

verzamelingen

2011-03-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

I think there's a certain charm in how random objects strewn across a room can somehow seem to form still lifes, when photographed. While there's not always an apparent reason for these things to be where they are, they still form a unity once you capture them in an image. Leave it to the human brain to always try and create a whole out of unrelated pieces. I went about my room to photograph all of my collections of random stuff.

(this picture on my nightstand is an old one of my grandmother)

facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy, listening to the new told lies

2011-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

hair - let the sunshine in

Today was a pretty good day. Me and Lisa (she has just started a new blog! here) snuck out of the most boring class EVER to have lunch. The sun was shining (though it's still so cold that I constantly feel like my face is being bitten off when I go outside), I voted for the first time ever, and I wore my new jeans. Let me just make this clear - I hate jeans. I hate how they sag off your butt, how they never seem to fit properly, how they always seem to get wider no matter how tiny you buy them, how they're always too small in some places and too big in others. But I instantly fell in love with these when I saw them in Monki. They're so retro, they fit perfectly because of the high waistline, and they don't make my legs feel like a pair of sausages.

bun

Stop motion and a blue dress

2011-02-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I was bored. So I spent my day making a little stop motion movie. Three hours of work for fifteen seconds of film seem a bit inefficient, but I had fun!

Here are some stills from the movie. I'm so in love with the colour of this dress!

What's it like to be a bird?

2011-02-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

So here it is, the bird project I told you about in a previous post! A friend started this amazing project, in which he makes people sound like birds - this is my own voice in the video, and I'm re-enacting a nightingale.

It was all just starting to take shape when we made the video above, but everything's coming along pretty fast now, and I'm really glad to be a part of the project at such an early stage.

The idea behind it is that you can experience how it feels to be a bird, but in human speed. I'm going to try and transcribe Thijs' explanation as best as possible here: Most birds live only seven to eight years, whereas humans have around 70 to 80 years. Therefore, you could say that birds live at a different pace than humans. You can see that in their quick movements, their rapid heart beat, and how many times they breathe in one minute.

Of course, it's impossible to entirely experience what a bird's consciense is like, but you can 'humanize' and then re-enact one of their most notable features - their song. Then, if you translate the human's imitation of the bird back to a bird's perception, you get the effect you can see above.

It's quite the experience to 'be' a bird, to understand what their song sounds like from their perception instead of our own. And it's even more incredible to see the bird-version of yourself, making sounds you never would have thought could come out of your mouth. It's such an interesting cross between science and art. I'll keep you updated on interesting progress - and perhaps even a chance to try it yourself!

You can see more birds and get more info here: www.thijsvanvuure.nl.

I ain't the kind of woman who will make your life a bed of ease.

2011-02-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

janis joplin - turtle blues

Today is a sad day.

I still had these pictures from last week when I was bored. I was going for a sort of minimalist, ballet-ish, non-friendly, bluesy vibe and I think they go with how I feel now.

I will have happier, less depressing posts up soon, don't worry!

thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes

2011-02-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

leonard cohen - famous blue raincoat

I'm wearing my new shirt, which has a bicycle on it. The fact that it is a bicycle (and that it has French text underneath, as well) is enough to make me love it. The text says 'Moi et ma bicyclette jusqu'à la fin de monde', no idea if the French is actually correct, but it's sort of cute.

I've also participated in a very interesting and cool project which involves bird songs, that I'm very excited to tell you about... but more on that later!

(I really have to come up with a different photo face/pose instead of the awkward hair grasp/angry scowl... hehe)

february inspo

2011-01-24T12:53:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! I haven't really got anything new to show you, apart from the above picture randomly taken in my bathroom, so I thought I'd do an inspiration-post with all the pictures I've recently been hoarding on my computer. I've also got a new favourite blogs-post coming up, so stay tuned (and in the meantime, check out my previous one here).

Picture sources are underneath; if I haven't remembered one and you know who it is, please leave it in the comments.

Sarah-Louise Johnson

photobomb

lara stone for vogue paris

clothes, cameras and coffee

anthropologie S/S11 catalog

source??

abbey lee kershaw for vogue?

interior alchemy

fucking fucks

yvan rodic

solanah raquel

an amsterdam afternoon

2011-01-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

gloria jones - tainted love

(I dyed my hair once again! John Frieda had an offer where you could get a free package of hair dye, so I ordered medium brown-red, and it turned out very red...)

IJ-hallen

2011-01-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today I went to one of the biggest vintage fairs in Amsterdam with Thomas and Vera, in the 'IJ-hallen'. It was fun - albeit VERY cold - and I even scored some clothes for very decent prices (nothing over 5 euros, I'm proud to say, haha).

OK, I'll admit -- I actually bought this jacket on sale in the New Yorker afterwards, so it's not thrifted at all..

the weight of my words

2011-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

kings of convenience - the weight of my words

I'm sort of done with winter now - the snow has melted away and it's become warmer, which is making me long for flowers and sun instead of ice and clouds. So I put together a spring-y outfit and played around with vintage-looking filters in Photoshop.

Oh and I bought this hat yesterday at H&M! I love how everyone looks at you friendlier when you're wearing a hat (no idea why, but it's true!)

I love these tights, but unfortunately I ruined them the very first time I wore them - there's a huge hole in the back. I just can't be trusted around fragile tights.

Of course, I couldn't wear an outfit like this outside. If I wanted to, my getting-out-of-the-door ritual would go something like this:

(except that, realistically, I would be wearing two pairs of thick tights and some sturdy lace-up boots. But where's the fun in that?)

snow and a blue cape

2010-12-28T06:34:00.000-08:00

Hello dears, I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and are currently enjoying some well-deserved days off. I'm finally done with end-of-term finals, and I had the most perfect Christmas, with presents and all. It's still very cold and quite snowy, so I'm constantly wearing my new cape - it's fleece-lined and very warm when paired with this cardigan (layers, layers!)

O, and this is a terrific song.

pomplamoose - telephone (lady gaga cover)

no winter extravaganza

2010-12-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hello my dears! I apologise for the absolutely terrible lack of updates here.

What I've been up to in the past weeks:

- Studying for finals (what do you call them in English once you're at university?) like the nerd I am. I even get really stressed out by them, resulting in lack of sleep and loads of disgruntled behaviour

- Ploughing through a massive blanket of snow that, while making Amsterdam very pretty, is responsible for a crazy amount of delays in public transport, and making it fairly impossible to go anywhere by bicycle without slipping.

- Taking up the rather ambitious plan to start a blog with longer stories, in Dutch, which is not about style (shocking, yes)

- Finding that going to an Amsterdam club called the Melkweg ('the Milkyway') when it has a theme that, surprisingly, tells us to go ahead and 'Kill All Hipsters', is a very nice thing to do on a Saturday night.

- Eating inordinate amounts of chocolate (whether or not in liquid form), cookies, sandwiches, and many other things. Which is all good because it's nearly Christmas.

- Participating in the largest student demonstration that Amsterdam has seen since the 1970s. Pictures here. It was so very, very awesome.

- Spending faar too much time on Facebook.

What I have not been up to these past few weeks:

- Make blog photos.

- Put up a Christmas tree.

- Go to cool holiday parties that require me to wear sparkly dresses.

I'm so out of it! Anyway, expect improvement soon, as I have five WEEKS of Christmas holidays. FIVE. So I'll have no excuse for not making posts then :)

Wish me luck for my next few exams and see you soon!

photo by me.

Then I'll float to you, my darling, with the evening on my tail

2010-12-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

It's so disgustingly beautiful and wintery outside with all the snow, it's killing me! I want to go outside and make a snowman with a carrot nose! But well, being tucked up under a pile of blankets with my laptop isn't that bad either, even if it is for doing homework. This is a picture I made of the Westerpark yesterday, with my cellphone (so not the best quality):

Enough to put me in full-blown Christmas mode! I even put up a mini-Christmas tree. Anyway. In these pictures I'm wearing a Zara dress, which unfortunately gets packed under at least three jumpers whenever I venture outside. I'm in love with the pattern and the collar! The pendant is actually an old brooch.

i get misty

2010-12-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

ella fitzgerald - misty

It's stopped being so darn cold outside, but now the fog comes creeping in - and I love it. It looks so dreamy and fairytale-like! This is what it looks like in front of my window:

now that I know, the way it goes

2010-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

devendra banhart - now that i know

It's so snowy outside! I bravely ploughed through the 10cm layer of snow today to go buy absolutely necessary things like shampoo and christmas decorations, and I will never doubt the functionality of fur coats again (though I still feel a tiny bit like a Russian hooker when I'm wearing one). I must go out soon to make pictures against a perfect snowy backdrop, but for now I just really want to share this AMAZING spread in British Vogue. Every image depicts a different star sign, in the most beautiful interpretation of the zodiac I've ever seen. And how great would it be if they made this into a 2011 calendar?! This Devendra Banhart song I'm currently addicted to goes perfectly with it, I think.

btw; making monthly playlists is my newest obsession. Click here for my November and October mixes (and also for my fondness of using 'a tad' in my descriptions). A December-playlist will be up soon as well.

domestic goddess

2010-11-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

When we went dubstepping on Friday, one of my best friends wore this blouse in white with only a bra underneath, and I thought it looked awesome so I'm blatantly copying her! I probably wouldn't go to class wearing this, but it suits the Sophia Loren 'domestic goddess'-theme quite well. And in this theme I can also showcase my kitchen once again, with Christmas lights and all. I'm still exceptionally happy in my own little place, although I wasn't quite so glad when I tried to sleep yesterday and someone in the building was having a party and the music was making my bed tremble. Ah well, serves me right for staying in on Saturday night instead of going out like a normal student!

VIVE LA ROUSSE

2010-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

My hair is red, and shorter. I don't like the shortness, but I do like the red! Now I'm going to a dinner party and then I'm going out :)

the harbor at my door, and an abundance of jackets

2010-11-17T06:47:00.000-08:00

So far I'm quite enjoying winter! It's really, really cold and foggy outside, which wakes up some sort of grizzly bear-like winter sleep instinct in me. So I huddle up under the blankets as often as I can (preferably with a certain goodlooking blonde-haired boyfriend), go outside only if I must and in my cute but not very feminine padded parka, and put up my first Christmas decorations. Yes, I'm disgustingly homely come winter times.

During one of those rare days when the temperature outside is actually bearable, me and the previously mentioned blonde-haired boy went out into the harbor near my home (near actually means 'near' here, I can see the ships from my room) and made pictures of me in my new mid-length skirt. As you might have noticed unless you live under a rock with no internet reception, mid length is so back it might never go away any more, and I love it. So this look was inspired by the gorgeous Louis Vuitton A/W10 show (see the full show here, or head over to Selina's blog for her inspiring post on mid-lengths), but halfway through I got quite cold and put on my jacket, and then I decided to try my boy's new trenchcoat on for good measure. Here we go:

lace panel dress: h&m /// skirt: vintage (lady day) /// belt: pieces /// brogues: manfield /// blue jacket: h&m /// men's trenchcoat: zara

Here you can see where I live!

down by the riverside

2010-11-06T04:09:00.000-07:00

agnes obel - riverside

One of the best parts about the cold? Being able to wear my Norwegian jumper! I found it in a vintage shop in Amsterdam last week, when I was shopping with my sister - all these vintage stores here are reaaally getting on my budget.

and thus we create dreams

2010-11-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's november! Which marks the start of the festive part of winter (everything pre-New Year's Eve), full of candlelight, lots of good food, snow and ice and knitted jumpers, as opposed to the depressing part of winter (January till March), in which I want nothing more than to hole up in bed with a stack of books - I accidentally wrote 'booze', which is equally effective - until my winter depression is over. But to celebrate the fact that it's now officially time to embrace the cold, here is what currently inspires me - not specifically winter-related: red hair, illustrations, lingerie, strolls outside, knitwork, beautiful girls, vintage-inspired interiors...

amy earles (wool & water)

elinkan

emma watson by ellen von unwerth

cosette munch

clothes, cameras & coffee

decipher the day

savannah burton (a witch's style)

rebecca (the clothes horse)

topshop

niotillfem

note: I'm absolutely terrible at recording image's sources, so if there's in image here that belongs to you, please let me know and I'll put up a caption!

She'll come, she'll go. She'll lay belief on you

2010-10-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

david bowie - lady grinning soul

This is my new(ish) dress, from H&M, where I guess they're already doing the christmas line? Anyway, I photographed this while I should have been studying thousands of English of words and loads of theories about argumentation... do you see the procrastination-guilt in my eyes? I'm also wearing my new shoes, which I bought in a (otherwise horrendous) little Amsterdam shop for only €25. They're furry on the inside, which my constantly cold feet love, and they can be worn with the flaps up or down. I believe I'm in love.

and twinkle twinkle through the night

2010-10-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

A clearer look at my room, and my new nailpolish.

fredrika stahl - twinkle twinkle

just a quick shoutout

2010-10-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Why, I've been such a terrible blogger lately... so this is me talking awkwardly into my laptop. Uhuh, way to make thinks better! Anyways, I've got an inspiration post and a video post coming up, and today I did the most exciting thing - I helped record a short film by my very very talented friend Thessa - you simply have to watch her youtube, she makes awesome things. It was the first time I acted on film and it was quite different from anything I've ever done before; the film is going to be deliciously eerie and cool, I think.

autumn-coloured elbow patches

2010-10-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

SWEATER - H&M
SKIRT - VINTAGE
BELT - PIECES
TIGHTS - H&M
BROGUES - MANFIELD

Hi, I love Amsterdam

2010-10-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for yet another blogging hiatus, but I've got absolutely awesome news - as of now, I'm officially a citizen of the lovely town of Amsterdam! I have a room with its own bathroom and kitchen, which just about equals the Holy Grail of Student Housing here, and after I'd signed the contract on Thursday, me and my mum immediately started working to make the grim, grease-stained room into a liveable environment. This is how the room looked when I first entered it:

Pretty huge! And a view that's absolutely unique in Amsterdam. But also, which you can't really tell from the pictures, GROSS. On the right wall, there was a big brown stain, about two metres long; two other huge stains were right about where the bed might've been (I'm guessing someones greasy hair made them over time? Ew.), and the kitchen was splattered with months-old baking grease. We kept finding droplets of fat everywhere - a good-bye present from the previous owner? - and we spent a whole day trying to cover up the stains with white paint.

Here you can see which colour I chose for the walls.

Here's my mum, busily trying to scrub away all the stains on the kitchen wall.

After all the stains were covered up and the grease splatters were all removed, it was time for a trip to IKEA. We bought so much stuff, I still have no idea how we all got it inside the car.
Then the walls were painted pink, and I was given the tedious task of trying to comprehend IKEA manuals...

Which worked out just about fine. All the furniture was put randomly inside the room at first, but after a while, a real arrangement was starting to form.

And here's how it looks right now, as I'm typing this:

As you can see, I chose seperate colours for the living area and the kitchen, to really try and make them two seperate parts. After a collection of my own old ánd new junk (for example, the table and chairs are very old) was added, the place really started to feel like home, although the walls are still in dire need of some pictures - but all in time! I'm really happy to be living on my own for the first time, and I already had a few nice evenings in my place. I'm ready to start 'fashion blogging' more regularly again, so stay tuned! Have a very nice weekend dears!

the autumn leaves will all be falling soon

2010-09-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

The beautiful flowers
Will all fade away
The streams will all freeze and
The fields turn to gray

The frogs all will slumber
The birds will take flight
And winter's cold wonder
Will bid us goodnight

As the sun starts to set and
The leaves start to change

The autumn leaves will all be falling soon
And then winter will come in for the kill

For tonight is the last night of summer
My love
Of the summer
Of love

Excerpt from: Karen Elson - Lunasa

Behold: my autumn dress. I bought it in Paris last summer, but had to wait for the time when the summer sun wouldn't clash horribly with the autumn leaves on the fabric. I paired it up with an ancient H&M blouse, stockings from a Swedish store and a gold vintage belt that happens to match the charming leaf detail on the dress' shoulder straps:

See how adorable?

il pleut, c'est malheureux, il pleut

2010-09-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm continuously neglecting my poor little blog - my last post is more than a week old, again! It's just been so, so crazy lately. Uni started this week, and last week was the introduction: five days of nonstop running around Amsterdam, going out, sleeping little, eating bad. I did make some lovely friends that do the same course as me - only to find out when the lessons actually started, that I wasn't in a class with any of them. Imagine me waiting in front of the classroom, with high heels, red lipstick and a floral dress, everybody seeming to know everybody and chattering away while I'm uncomfortably staring into space. Yeah, sometimes I'm still a ten-year-old socially awkward geek. It's bound to become more fun, though; uni life means LOADS of free time, only having to study subjects you're actually interested in (I truly get a kick out of English Grammar and Vocabulary! Here comes the nerd again) and - hopefully - spending a lot of time in my favourite city in the Netherlands. Hopefully, because I'm still desperately seeking a room and until I find anything, I'll have to travel by train every day.
Oh btw, sorry for the graininess of the pictures - they were meant to be a bit Ellen von Unwerth-like but turned out looking more like bad cameraphone pics. I really love this dress though, it's all dark-blue polka dotted vintage dreaminess and I feel like a sexy sixties vixen whenever I wear it, mainly because it has a split all the way up on my left leg so my leg sort of peeps out when I walk. It makes me feel like Jessica Rabbit:

That was all for today. I hope I'll find more time to blog soon, once everything is a bit more settled!

paris, july 2010

2010-08-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

And suddenly, autumn's here. Right now, it's been raining for twenty-four hours, it's storming and I haven't seen a patch of blue sky in a week. What better moment to flip through the pictures of my Paris trip, and dream of blue skies, twelve hours of sunshine a day, and tropical temperatures?

The black-and-white pictures were made by my boyfriend, who used the ancient analog camera that one belonged to his grandfather - they're so good I think he should make this his profession, and I think they capture the lazy, romantic atmosphere perfectly. The pictures in color are made by me, with my then brand-new digital camera.

It's the beat that my heart skips when I'm with you

2010-08-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

DRESS: MANGO, HAT: LONDON TOURIST SHOP, SHOES: THE NEW YORKER

My first year at University is starting in two weeks, I'm currently in love with this song, I'm still looking desperately for a room in Amsterdam, and I took my prom dress out for a stroll. Have a happy weekend everyone!

p.s. I was featured on a web site - look here! A lovely French lady came running behind me and Thomas one day when we were in Amsterdam, and she asked to take pictures of us for her project. I actually quite like how they turned out!

p.p.s I just finished rinsing and drying my hair - I dyed it brown! It's supposed to come out a light, reddish brown but right now it looks more like medium/dark golden brown to me... anyway, I'll see what it looks like in daylight tomorrow!

les cheveux

2010-08-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

this was on the balcony in Sweden - I'm wearing a summer dress I bought there, plus my new overknee socks. Sadly, you can't tell they're overknee

Every once in a while, I get this sort of itch. It's an itch that says: I should change my hair. This happens about once every six months, and most times, it means that I'm about to dye it a different color. It started out with me going from dirty blonde to light brown, at fourteen. Not a major change, but it was at the time. The change felt so good that I started dyeing or changing my hair every once in a while, but now my hair has been the same long, blond mess for way too long - I haven't been to a hairdresser for nearly a year, and it's starting to show in my very dry ends. Furthermore, due to lack of sun, the light parts are now growing out like mad and dark roots aren't a very chique look. The problem is that by now, my hair has been nearly every color possible with my skin tone (and a few shades that didn't quite match my skin), so I don't quite know where to go next. Here is what my hair looked like in brown and red:

And here's how it looks right as I'm typing this: (I look a bit looney-eyed, but okay)

Note: this is the best it ever looks. Normally, it looks worse - less volume, limp, and sort of boring. I just took it out of a ponytail, so it has some volume, but normally it's a lot flatter.

So, I was interested to know: what do you think I should do? Keeping it exactly as it is might be difficult, because of the dark outgrowth and the very dry ends, so I'll have to cut off a bit anyway. I also think it's starting to look a bit ordinary, maybe - there are so many girls with this type of long blonde hair. But should I cut off a big piece, or just a bit? Dye it brown, or my natural colour, or red, or reddish brown, or make it blonder? Change my entire hairstyle - like, cut it down to shoulder-length, or maybe cut a fringe? I'd love to hear all your thoughts on this, because I'm quite lost!

stolen roses

2010-08-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here, you can take a look at my new dress. You can also take a look at what must be the messiest dressing table on the planet. I'm quite a messy person, there is always stuff lying everywhere in my room - clothes piling up, magazine cutouts and other paperwork everywhere, and there's a carpet made out of books next to my bed.
Anyway - I still have loads of things I would like to show you guys, like the Paris pictures, but that'll come in time. Now, I would just like to show you my new shoes:

Brown leather brogues from Manfield, and so comfortable I can't believe I never invested in a pair of these before. And that's my desk I'm standing on, another fine example of my messiness.

Oh, and something else - I am completely obsessed with Karen Elson's new album! She is, as you may know, a model and also Jack White's wife, and utterly stunning:

But that's not the most important - she makes such great music! You'll have to have a certain love (or tolerance) for folk to like it, but as I have loved folk music all my life, I adore her! I've been listening to her album over and over again. Just listen to Stolen Roses or The Ghost Who Walks (oh, and she looks so great in the second video!)

eighteen hundred ninety-six

2010-08-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

I've been back for almost a week now from my Scandinavian holiday, and I miss it so much! I made these photos on the porch of the neighbouring house in Sweden, which, judging by the sign over the door, dates from 1896. It's dangerously - but also beautifully - falling apart because the owners haven't taken proper care of it, which is a shame but also gives the house a sort of gothic appearance. At one time there was a thunderstorm going on in the evening, and you can probably imagine how spooky the house looked then!

I'm wearing a new skirt, from a shop called The Darling, in the Runstraat in Amsterdam. It's one of my favourite shops - they sell homemade cupcakes and dreamy, very affordable clothes (both vintage and new). It's like a candy shop that sells clothes, with a very girly and cute interior. Be sure to visit it if you're in Amsterdam! I'm also wearing my bowler hat from London and a dress with lace parts, from H&M.

little red riding hood

2010-07-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to photographing my new jacket, sent to me by Sophia over at Skie Pies, in a real Swedish setting! Granted, I saw woods here that were about a hundred times more stunning than this one, but this was only a two minute walk from the house. I did get a few weird looks from the locals as I was strutting past with my tripod and red lipstick on, but okay. I'm leaving for Denmark tomorrow and I'm a bit sad to leave this amazing country. For people who are Swedish, my gushy love for their country must sound a bit overdone - I'm always a bit suspicious when tourists declare their undying love for the Netherlands, mostly because their love seems to be based solely on the idea that Holland is an utterly free country filled with slutty girls, pot and tulips, which is quite untrue - but the combination of the gorgeous nature (with "watch out for reindeers/mooses/deer/boars"-signs every few miles on the side of the road - I even saw a perfect Bambi crossing the road yesterday, which you never get to see where I live, so I found it quite magical), the beautiful Pippi-houses at every step, and the awesome cities with lots of stores that can make me do little dances, and the oh-so cute language (which I'll hopefully do a minor in at University sometime!) makes it seem like Sweden is tailor-made for me.

Jacket - won at Sophia's giveaway. Dress - Zara (ancient collection). Socks and shoes - River Island.

curiouser and curiouser

2010-07-19T02:24:00.000-07:00

I'm still in Sweden, but I have absolutely nothing interesting to tell - which, I think, means I'm having a very relaxing holiday! There are still trips to Göteborg and København (the Danish spelling is so much better than the Dutch/English ones!) on the agenda, so if anyone has tips on what to visit in these cities, please do share! I did do some shopping, including this dress - my mum said she thought it was very Alice in Wonderland, so that was the base for these photos.

hej hej!

2010-07-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

tee from maison scotch, belt from primark, red skirt from zara, floral skirt from mango, bag from river island
So, I'm in Sweden now and it's absolutely fantastic! It's maybe to soon to say it but Sweden might just be my favourite country in the world. It's so much like the Netherlands that I immediately feel at home, but it's foreign enough to make me feel like I'm on a vacation. We're staying at a friend's house which is to be made into a bed&breakfast, but it's only half-finished, which makes for a funny mix of old and new. The closest town is Helsingborg ('close' means something quite different here than at home; here, it means that it's forty-five minutes away) and although it's quite a small town, I really love it. The language is even more fantastic than I thought, the Swedish are so helpful (like when you don't understand the cash machine) and in my opinion, they're also way more attractive then at home. And the shops, oh, the shops... The house and surroundings form a perfect backdrop for outfit photos, the neighbouring house is from 1870 and falling apart, but beautifully so. But first, a picture made in the room where I sleep, where the wallpaper and the green chair made a combo too perfect not to use!

it's my life, don't you forget

2010-07-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

no doubt - it's my life
I can keep apologizing for what an awful blogger I've been lately, but it's true! It seems like everything's changing. I turned eighteen a week ago, which means I'm supposed to be an adult now, (or at least responsible for my life in most ways), I officially graduated high school yesterday, I'll be starting university in a few short months, and I'll be moving to a different town. Even my horoscope says everything's going to change, haha! I just came back from Paris and I have a TON of pictures to show you guys and just no time to post them! Fortunately I'm going to Sweden next week, so I'll have plenty of time to slow down and be creative in some way again.

When I got home today, a package was waiting for me on the table:

It was my present from the Little Red Riding Hood giveaway I on over at the lovely Sophia's blog! I literally squealed when I opened it.

Inside was the cutest jacket I have ever, ever seen. Just see for yourself.

It's so so so adorable! Thank you Sophia! You must visit her blog, she's incredible. I have already exactly in mind how I'll style the jacket, but I feel like I must do its perfect fairytaleness justice, and what is a more fitting backdrop than the Swedish woods?

paris, paris, paris

2010-06-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

We're leaving for Paris tomorrow morning! I'll report back in five days with loads and loads of pictures. Au revoir mes chèries x

Je chante les flots et je chante les fleurs, je fais des bouquets avec tous les nuages

2010-06-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Laïs - Serenade Portugaise. The perfect song for a summer evening.

Oh, summer has really kicked in, finally! This should be the cue for lots and lots of summery afternoons, ice cream, swimming in the sea and floaty dresses, but instead I'm way too busy working, as usual. It's such a drag to stand in an airconditioned shop up to eleven hours per day, trying to sell clothes you think are ugly to people you think are annoying, while outside everyone is freely walking around wearing shorts and tank tops.

But times will change! I'm going to Paris with my boy next week, and I'm looking forward to it so much, I smile every time I think about it. After that I'm home for a week (in which they'll surely punish me at work for having the nerve to go on holiday by planning me in for six days straight) and then I'm off to Sweden with my family for two and a half weeks! We're staying in a house in the countryside in a tiny place close to Örkelljunga, with no big cities closer then two hours away, so I'll definitely get a break from all the fuss there. (Fortunately Göteburg and Malmö aren't terribly far away, because I'm a city person at heart!) We're also staying in Kopenhagen for a few days. In short, I have enough to look forward to, and that makes everything bearable! And, of course, I'm still doing enough fun stuff like laying around in parcs to balance out all this working:

I also managed to squeeze in some shopping time (I'm balancing on the verge of being shopaholic I think, but hey, who can resist when it's sale everywhere? I'm doing my best for the economy) where I bought this adorable little tee. It reminds me of the things children wore in the 70's (to be exact, it reminds me of the things children wore in the Pippi-tv series from the 70's); it's a really vintage-like fabric and it has buttons on the shoulders. I bought it in a store in Alkmaar, where they sell all these cute retro-style clothes. (Voor de Alkmaarders: Pepito Bonita op 't Fnidsen).

I also found a cute skirt at Mango with 50% off, which I'm definitely going to wear in Paris, so you'll see it soon enough! So anyway, I've been rambling for long enough now - enjoy your week, loveliest readers!

p.s. oh yeah, the clothes: in the first set of pictures I'm wearing a Primark top and Zara shorts and my boyfriend's sunglasses which he bought at the New Yorker, and in the second set I'm wearing a tee from Who's That Girl? and H&M denim shorts.

när alla hjältar är döda lever kungar kvar

2010-06-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Laleh - Prinsessor
I imagine that listening to Swedish music will improve my Swedish, especially when they have poetic lyrics like this one (like I found out when I put the lyrics into Google Translator. Ha).

DRESS - MY MUM'S, BAG - FLEA MARKET, NECKLACE - SIX, BOLERO - THRIFTED (OLD NAVY), FLATS - FRENCH SUPERMARKET

This dress is very old - it used to be my mum's, and she thrifted it, so I can't be sure how old, but at least 20 years. I still wasn't quite sure about the concept of a maxi dress, but after wearing it for a day I've decided that it's the most comfortable piece of clothing that was ever invented! It looks best with bare feet, which makes it the perfect dress for going to the beach - except that I always go to the beach by bicycle, it's absolutely impossible to ride a bike in this thing!

Not long after my big rant in the latest post on how busy I am, I finally got some days off from work (three whole days, to be precise) so I got to spend some time with the cutest boy on earth. We made pasta salad and sat in the sun and it was blissfully perfect.

Oh and some of you asked questions in the comments on my latest posts so: I work in Forecast, a Dutch shop. The clothes really aren't my style but the people I work with are great. My job is to be the typical annoying shopgirl - overly friendly and helpful. It's a lot more fun than it sounds.
And I'm going to study "Taal & Communicatie" (translates to Language & Communication) at the University of Amsterdam, where apart from studying communication- and language-related subjects (and do a lot of writing) you also get to study a foreign language. I'm choosing Swedish or English, I'm not sure yet. I'm going to study this because I'd like to be an editor - maybe at a publishing house, or (hopefully) at a magazine.

je suis une poupée de cire, une poupée de son

2010-06-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Fumie Hosokawa - Poupée de cire poupée de son. I've been so addicted to this song lately!

I bought this top in H&M for 5 euros during lunch break - I felt like I really needed a sky-colored see-through blouse. Or something.

So, somehow it's well into June already and I still feel like Summer has yet to start. I've been working so much lately I'm even busier than when I was still in school - so much for the oceans of free time I'd pictured before! On top of that, the weather's been crazy lately. When I went out yesterday morning, I had to put on a jacket and a scarf and I was still cold. In June! Due to all this working I've always been terribly absent in the blogosphere lately, my blog reader has over 60 unread posts and I haven't commented back to anyone yet! So, overall, I haven't had much time to enjoy the summer, until yesterday evening when the sun was almost under and shone right on my chair.

it was 1954

2010-06-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Finally - the pictures of the 1950's-themed prom! I had to wait a little while for everyone to put them on Facebook and such, and I'm sure there are a lot of pictures made by different people (like teachers) that I haven't seen yet, but I've never been a patient person and I think you can get a fairly good look at The Dress:

When I saw it in Mango, in all its vintage-inspired, cream-colored, multiple-layered dreaminess, I had to have it. Even though it was €80 (more then I've EVER spent on one item of clothing). On the night I paired it up with a H&M hairpiece, vintage necklaces, Primark dotty tights and New Look shoes, and I felt pretty (like in the West Side Story song "I feel pretty! Oh-so pretty!", you know? I really hated that musical though). Of course my dress wasn't the only pretty one that night - I managed to get a few good pictures from Facebook of other dresses I loved, but there were some great outfits I didn't manage to get photos of. So there may be a follow-up of this post!

So there we went, looking all prim and proper - and then all properness melted off once we stood in the (very hot) club where the prom was held:

Overall, it was a pretty great night, though the shopping and the dressing up were the height of the festivity - but it's always like that.

why is a raven like a writing desk?

2010-06-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

bebel gilberto - tanto tempo

ALICE IN WONDERLAND T-SHIRT (Truly Madly Deeply via Zipper), TULLE SKIRT (H&M), random TIGHTS with a hole in them (oops), OVERKNEES WITH LITTLE BOWS (River Island)

I went on a shopping trip to Amsterdam with a friend, and it was absolutely great. It's so nice to go shopping with someone who likes clothes as much as you do, and can keep it up for as long as you can (we walked for, I don't know, seven hours straight?), and makes the same squeals when faced with a gorgeous piece of clothing - in other words, who is as much a shopaholic as you are. We had to walk through a thunderstorm, with the rain pouring down and our umbrellas flipping over all the time, which actually felt quite adventurous. We both found our perfect prom outfits - I'm not going to tell what they look like yet, of course; got to keep that element of surprise, right?

I also found the Alice in Wonderland shirt shown above, which I love because Alice has always been one of my favourite books (I read it so many times when I was little, and I still pick it up now and again). The print features one of the original Alice illustrations by John Tenniel, which I did some googling on and have quite an interesting story behind them (you can read a little bit about it here).

I also found these shoes. Actually, Vera found them, in this great vintage shop in Amsterdam called Laura Dols (if you visit Amsterdam and are into ballgowns, chique accessories, and quirky stuff, you have to go there) but they were my size. They're a bit odd, very Mary Poppins and I love the color:

(The stripey shirt and tights are H&M and I borrowed the tutu skirt from my sister - she found it in the H&M children's section.)

In completely unrelated news: I'm done with finals (yay!) so Summer holidays have officially started, and my hair is already turning blonder:

That's all for now! I'll update with my prom outfit in two days. I hope you have a very, very nice week!

I was meant to sail the sea

2010-05-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

REGINA SPEKTOR - SAILOR SONG

I'm almost through with finals! That's also why there has been such a lack of activity on my blog; I've been a bit preoccupied, having to study and such. However, I did find time to pop out of work for a second and buy this adorable cardigan at Zara. It's a sailor jacket! I'm not loving how the pictures turned out, maybe I'll re-do them at some point, when I have more time. In just a few more days I'll have over three months of vacation before starting university in September, so that should do!

ranting and rambling

2010-05-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

1. I attempted to make outfit shots today, but it just didn't work. I should wait until after my exams before trying to not look like I need some sleep, I think. The one above is the only picture that turned out remotely good.

2. The weather is so odd - it appears to be the sunniest of days when you look out the window, but when you step outside, it's very cold and windy and I just hate the climate in this country and wish I was in Paris already, where it's 20 degrees (the ideal temperature when you're in a city, in my opinion) and very sunny. Yes, I'm talking about the weather on my blog. It's what happens when you haven't got anything interesting going on.

3. I had my Art History exam today, and it was a bit weird - it featured people dancing in sticks, an opera in scary devil masks and Tom Cruise's War of the Worlds - but it went well, I think.

4. I want to go blonde! Haha, don't worry, I'm not suddenly going to show up here with white hair - I actually hate the look of bleached platinum blonde hair. But my hair always turns a bit lighter in the summer, what with all the UV-rays and the salt of the sea, and now I'm opting for a little bit more - I discovered something called "Spray Blonde" on the bathroom shelf that should gradually make your hair lighter over the course of a few weeks, which is ideal because I'm a bit scared of the effects of hydrogen peroxide. So that'll be a nice little experiment! I want it to turn out a bit like this:

(And yes, I did totally steal this picture from the H&M online shop.)

5. I saw A Roman Holiday for the second time a few days ago, and oh I just love it. I want to walk in to a barber's shop in London, sit down in the chair and demand that the barber chop it 'All off.' 'All off?' 'All off.'

6. Why is it that always when you're broke, suddenly every shop starts selling such appealing stuff? When I went to the local mall to buy bread and milk and the ELLE, I made a little round through the normally completely dull shops, and what did I find? Completely Marie-Antoinette-worthy, adorable underwear at Hunkemöller. The sweetest floral sundresses for €10 at C&A (?!?). Even Hema (for you non-Dutch readers, that's this über-Dutch warehouse where you normally buy things like plates and pastries and sensible underwear) suddenly sold the sweetest cropped cardigans in cream and pale pink? Oh, so annoying! Luckily I will be able to deal with all my shopping frustrations by going shopping for my prom dress, two weeks from now. Yay!

7. Speaking of prom dresses, I've been doing a little research (okay, I mean that several hours that should have been filled with study-related stuff, were spent looking at dresses in every online shop I could find) and turns out I'm leaning heavily towards lace, poofy skirts, and pastel colours. The prom is vaguely 50's-themed (though I'm sure half of the people attending don't actually realize what's meant by 1950's so they'll just assume they mean 50 Cent and turn up in their sluttiest minidress) so that allows me to wear the daintiest dress, biggest petticoat and reddest lipstick I can find. Oh, I can't wait!

8. This list has been sufficiently long. All of you that are currently suffering from exam stress - good luck! And for the rest of you - have a very nice week!

you've gained my heart

2010-05-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

Uh oh, exam time is finally here and I'm starting to feel the nerves! I had my very first exam - Dutch - today, and it went quite well, fortunately. Although it's quite common for people to wear comfortable clothes like sweatpants to exams, I wore... well, this. Being overdressed when you're making a test is good for your confidence, right? Well, just two-and-a-half more weeks and I'll be gone from high school forever!

Because my mum was away for the weekend and she took her camera with her, I had to use an older one and immediately realized how spoilt I am by being able to use a good one - the pictures I made with the old one were so pixelated I had to edit them way more than usual, not to mention the teeny tiny screen!

I'm wearing a top, shorts and tights all from H&M, a necklace from Six and a hair bow made by my mum.

Les Blogs du Moment

2010-05-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

The sudden and miraculous upsurge in comments in my blog has also resulted in me discovering a lot of cool new blogs I didn't know about. Of course I already have a blogroll (see right), but those are mostly quite well-known blogs; the next eight blogs are relatively unknown, but still really worth checking out! You can find them by clicking on the image.

you've got me begging you for mercy

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

GLEE CAST - MERCY

Less than a week away from my first exam I'm finally starting to feel butterflies, though I still can't quite seem to comprehend that these are my final exams, and my last chance to make something of the six years I spent at high school. Studying is only bearable if you take time for nice things some times, and so I've been watching movies, seeing my boyfriend, catching up on Gossip Girl and Glee and reading old magazines as well for the last few days - only to find that I have so little time left to cram the complete 17th and 18th century of Holland, Cicero's entire Pro Caelio-speech, and various mathematical problems I can't understand the first thing about, into my head. Anyway, I'm compiling a list of 'blogs du jour' right now - with relatively unknown blogs I recently discovered (or who discovered me) - so stay tuned!

(P.S. I'm wearing only thrifted, brandless or very old items here, so there are no shops I can put underneath this picture)

one spring morning

2010-05-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

AKRON/FAMILY - ONE SPRING MORNING
this beautiful song is from Rogue's Gallery, a cd produced by Johnny Depp with pirate- and sailor-themed songs. It's incredible.

So, what does one do to unwind after a day of intensively cramming facts about the Vietnam war into your brain? Of course. You put on a striped top and a red skirt and go stand in front of the closet. I bought this top during lunch break at work (so convenient to work practically next to a H&M Divided); it's the seventh striped tee I own. I don't know why I keep buying them, but they just seem so now but at the same time, very basic and timeless. And anyway, it was only €5!

Something very exciting happened: I bought train tickets for a trip to Paris with my boyfriend! I've been to Paris two times before and it's my favourite city in the world; going there with him should make it even more perfect. We'd planned it for some time but when my computer screen said the (non-refundable) tickets were paid, it was somehow real. Now we only have to book a hotel; I found a cute one in Montmartre. Oh I'm really looking forward to it, I hope it'll be very sunny and warm when I'm there.

H&M striped tee, my mum's skirt, thrift store scarf, Topshop necklace, the belt was a gift from my sister.

we give away perfect boots for free

2010-05-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Queensday, which is always paired with a widespread flea market and a lot of music and noise. I somehow always find the best stuff at this flea market - last year I found a great pair of high-waisted shorts and this year I found.... these.

They're exactly what I was looking for, and when I asked the lady who was selling them how much they cost, she looked at her husband and he said: "One euro."
One euro! For the most perfect shoes in the world! Okay, they're exactly one size too small, but I figured that if I can walk in heels all day, I can definitely squeeze my feet into these. They came with the original box and it said they had once cost 199,- (the brand is Manfield). And my day was brightened even more when I found these on the Topshop site. They are nearly identical (they also came in brown before) to mine, but exactly sixty-five times as expensive.
I also bought a cute little book from the 1920s with English love poems, but more on that later - I have two weeks to go until my final exams, eep! The end of high school is near, which is a fairly frightening prospect, to be honest. But first I'll have to cram a ton of books into my head in fourteen days!

add another flame to our forest

2010-04-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

ALELA DIANE - THE PIRATE'S GOSPEL

edit: this sweater belongs to my sister, hehe.

sunday

2010-04-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the warmest day of the year thus far, we went to Amsterdam and I bought a new bright-blue dress and kept it on. For some reason random people kept making photos of us, I think that's happened about five times - maybe they were tourists who thought we were some kind of typical Amsterdam couple? Anyway, we sat on the bank of the Herengracht and it was lovely. I can't wait until my exams are over and I can do these kinds of things every day.

WALDECK - WHY DID WE FIRE THE GUN

outfit video

2010-04-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

So, my very first outfit video! I became inspired by the cute outfit videos by Sandra of Niotillfem and Carrie of WishWishWish and wanted to do one of my own. So here it is! I'm wearing a River Island top, Zara skirt, Primark belt and the shoes I bought at Tango (the brand is Bullboxer). I'm also wearing my new Rimmel lipstick that I bought with 50% off! The color is called Red Fever.

doublement rouge

2010-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately that this blog may give quite a bad impression of me - because it's a style blog, all I write about are things like clothes and makeup, and I never really have anything interesting to say about life or things that actually matter. While it's true that caring that much about appearances is shallow, I don't actually perceive liking fashion as superficial. I think the way you dress is a form of art and while there's definitely more that I care about apart from fashion, it is the part of me I'm most comfortable sharing. Still, when you see post after post in which I'm flaunting all these clothes I have and trying to twist my face into the most flattering position I can manage, I might come across as this really shallow-brained person whose only thoughts are about what she'll put on tomorrow and who likes to pout prettily when she looks into the mirror.

But fact is, I just like to take photos. And I like to shop. I feel like when I'm wearing something nice, I create this world of my own in which only good things can happen - like I'm in a movie or something. I also love to draw, read books and kiss my boyfriend. I like the smell of fresh laundry, my favourite food is pasta salad and when I'm cycling home late at night, I sometimes sing very loudly. I believe in fate. When I feel confident, I put on red lipstick; when I feel insecure, I put on lots of eyeliner. I love it when a boy has freckles. I once nearly broke my back in P.E. when I was fourteen and am suspicious of anything gymnastics-related ever since. I haven't traveled much in my life; the only faraway country I've visited is India. I'm good at doing accents. I like to go out and dance, but I can also suddenly become very tired when I'm out and just want to go home. I listen to music all the time. I love being in love.

And so the I'm-really-not-shallow-post has turned into a post in which I introduce myself. Seeing as this is a fairly new blog, that's quite appropriate, right?

If you'd like to tell me some things about yourself too, I'd love that. Who are you? What are your likes and dislikes? Do you sometimes sing at night, too? I'd really love to know.

iep!

2010-04-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

I bought this dress at Primark, and when I put it on Thessa said I looked like Iep, a girl in a Dutch movie with wings for arms:

Yesterday we had the annual school performance called Unplugged, which is always nice, especially since it's the last one I get to sing in before I finish school. I wasn't entirely happy about how I did so I'm not sure if I'll post the video my mum made on Youtube. Speaking of Youtube:

How bloody adorable is this? I could keep watching this forever. And now I sort of want a kitten.

PRIMARK DRESS AND BELT, RIVER ISLAND SHOES, HAT BORROWED FROM MY SISTER, THE HEART NECKLACE WAS A GIFT FROM MY GRANDMOTHER

that dress

2010-04-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely in denial of how cold it still is. It's still no more than 12 degrees Celsius outside but I'm putting on summer dresses every morning because the sun is shining outside, throwing on a blazer last-minute, and then spend the day clutching my blazer to my chest because it's still bloody freezing. Fortunately, it was warm enough today to have a picnik in the parc with Corona and chicken salad. I was not wearing this dress, but I wanted to. I sort of want to wear it all the time, so I have to prevent myself from putting it on every day.

KATE BUSH - IN THE WARM ROOM

P.S. I put all the pictures I've collected over the last few weeks on my tumblr. If you're incredibly bored or looking for inspiration, you should take a look!

zomerse taferelen

2010-04-13T04:30:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be nice to never wear winter clothes ever again? Summer dresses are so much nicer. Especially when they have a heart-shaped panel in the front:

The dress is from Primark.

And these sunglasses are huge and insect-like. Look! They're ginormous!

easter brunch

2010-04-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

This is what our table looked like on Easter morning:

analog

2010-04-08T05:50:00.000-07:00

Having a boyfriend is great, especially when everything's still new and fresh and you're really excited about everything. Having a new boyfriend who happens to have a talent for making pictures with an analog black-and-white camera, and then makes pictures (see above) of you, is greater still. If said boyfriend looks like this (picture taken with the same camera):

and also dresses very smartly, and is also the sweetest guy on earth, it's almost to awesome to contain.

all my little plans and schemes, lost like some forgotten dreams

2010-04-08T05:09:00.000-07:00

Regina Spektor - Real Love

When I saw the sun was shining again today, for the third day in a row, I ran outside armed with a tripod and my mum's new camera to make pictures. I found this willow tree near where I live and decided it was the perfect spot for pictures. Unfortunately, apperently it's also the perfect spot to walk your dog, so I got a couple of weird looks while I was doing my best I'm-from-Wonderland-pose. Anyway. The shoes, dress and necklace I'm wearing are all from London and the jacket I bought just before that, in H&M, and I really love it. But the dress is the real winner here:

I thought it was so utterly adorable, when I found it in a little shop on Portobello Road. I like the sheer fabric, the color and the white lace thingy, but mostly I love the print:

Look! It's tiny rabbits! With backpacks! Oh, and I completely covered the heels of my new shoes in mud. Maybe I deserved those weird looks I got, if only for ploughing through soft mud in 10cm heels:

JACKET, H&M / DRESS, PORTOBELLO ROAD / NECKLACE, TOPSHOP / SHOES, NEW LOOK / BELT, OLD

london life

2010-04-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

I wasn't planning to do a very long London post, but I made so many pictures! So I'll just put up my favourites here and tell you the story behind them.

Notting Hill was fan-tas-tic. It was the very first place we went to go shopping (after a very long bus drive) and in the first shop we went into, on Portobello Road, I immediately bought three dresses (one of which is shown in the post before this)! The houses were all pastel-coloured, which made the street look sunny even in the dreary London weather, and there were all these little shops with cheap dresses that may have been very unoriginal in the stylish London - every store there sold the same dresses - but I have never seen before in Holland.

This was the 'lovely' view from the hostel window. The hostel itself, with the mandatory noisy bunk beds that are the cliché in every school trip, was as grubby as its view, although I was lucky because I slept in one of the better rooms - we actually had hot water. And windows.

On the first night there we ate pizza, which was nice. The restaurant had quite a fastfood-like name (something like Pizza Express I think?) but it was just like a regular Italian restaurant and my pizza with chicken and peppadews was delicious.

On the second night I ate sushi for the first time in my life - and decided at the spot that it would my favourite food, haha. Finding a place to eat on the third night was exhausting, because we were so tired our feet couldn't carry us any more, but finally we ended up in a place called Shaftbury's, on Shaftbury Avenue - I can definitely recommend it if you ever go to London; it was very affordable for such good food (I paid somewhere around 26 pounds for an entree, the main course and two drinks, and everything was delicious) and the staff was very nice (and, in the case of one waiter, very handsome).

We saw so many London Underground stations. You take the tube for literally everything in London, because it's so fast (and cheap as well - 1 pound a day for us, because we had group tickets). One time we had the choice between walking 5 minutes or taking the tube, and guess what? We took the tube.

And oh, the shops. Seeing Topshop on Oxford Street was enough to make me scream and run towards it, but it was just so expensive compared to the other stores I saw that all I bought there was some accessories. Some other stores in Oxford Street were great too, of course, especially Primark - so much better than the Dutch one! - but, as any Londoner probably could have told me, the greatest things were to be found in little shops.

Camden Town, of course, provided enough cute little shops to keep us occupied for some time. I rather liked the atmosphere there, as well - a bit more alternative and open-minded than the rest of London.

Seeing as we slept an average of five hours a night and were on our feet all day, paid a visit to Starbucks quite a few times. We do have Starbucks here in Holland, but only on the Central Stations of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and it's always so busy there you feel like you're in for some kind of special treat instead of just getting coffee. In London, however, there was a Starbucks on every corner so you could just pop in and get a moccha frappuccino and walk out again - and feel like a celebrity, strutting on the streets, sipping from your Starbucks cup.

Of course we did a bit of sightseeing too. Being faithful Harry Potter fans, we went to see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station, for example; but most of the sightseeing went like this:

Get out of the underground station...

.. make some pictures...

... and return to Oxford Street.

Some other things we saw were:

Piccadilly Circus

the British Museum

Tower Bridge

and Covent Garden (followed by a rude word in Dutch, haha).

The main thing I noticed about British people was that they were all so incredibly polite and courteous. Everyone said 'sorry' if you bumped into them, even if it was your fault; everyone stood neatly in a row at the right on the escalators in the tube stations, so that people that were in a hurry could pass; and when we were at Lush and our cards didn't work, the guy behind the counter apologized a thousand times, even though there was nothing he could possibly have done about it. I guess the English are just raised to be much more well-mannered than the Dutch people I'm accustomed to - or maybe the Dutch are just rude?

We were told by our teachers that seventeen-year-olds cannot possibly enter any pub in London, but we got in without a problem, and there we chatted with three very nice Swedish guys. When I checked my pictures later, I noticed you can see two of them in the back of this photo (that was taken more as a yay-I-got-into-a-pub-picture). After the pub closed at an inhumanely early hour - half past midnight - we talked with them outside for about an hour or so, thus drastically diminishing our chances of talking to an actual British guy - I had the mission to chat with a native British speaker to check if he would notice I was Dutch, but the only English I heard was when I talked with the people who work in shops.

After the obligatory phonebooth-pictures and in the possession of a bulk of new clothes (in my case: five pairs of shoes, seven dresses and a lot of accessories. Prepare for loads of outfit posts), we drove home the whole night, leaving at midnight and arriving at 11 the next morning, which was quite hellish for me because tired as I was, I just can't really sleep in a bus. I do feel like I haven't even begun to see all there is to London, but a school trip was a good place to start, because you can do everything together and it's so much fun. In short - I love London!

i heart london

2010-03-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

as you can see I was very tired when this photo was taken on the last day, haha

I just got back, utterly exhausted but very happy, with my suitcase bursting at the seams from all the shopping. It was so much fun walking around London, watching all the cool kids, hearing lovely British accents everywhere, eating in cute restaurants, shopping until we dropped and then getting up and buying some more, riding an empty tube or one completely crammed with people, taking loads of pictures, walking until our feet dropped off, and then going to bed way too late and rising way too early to start all over again.

under the stone there's a stone-fish

2010-03-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

(the top is from SPS. Trying to channel cute 1930s beauty ads and failing miserably, haha)

Good things today:
♥ Today was the first day it was warm enough to sit outside a cafe to have drinks.
Oh, I'm sorry about all this spring ranting, does it make me seem some kind of season-obsessed freak? I'm just overly excited that I seem to have survived winter again (I don't know how I always do that) and that my nose was burnt red by the sun today (my nose burns very quickly, I'm not sure why), which is always a good sign.
♥ I bought two H&M blazers (the €10 off-thing they have right now is great)...

♥...and I still have enough money left to shop outrageously in London, buying as many sun dresses and cute shoes as I can find, starting... wow, already the day after tomorrow!

♥ I'm in love with this song, End of May by Keren Ann:

♥ I'm done with exam week and therefore have an ocean of free time stretching out in front of me.

yeah, i'm a human fly

2010-03-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have absolutely no clue what Aldo is - is it a brand? Because then I'm quite sure we don't have it here - but I love the clothes in this shoot and oh my, Jessica Stam is really rocking it.

and suddenly, it was spring

2010-03-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Finally, the second-to-best season (summer remains the best one) has reached the cold Netherlands. The weather is sunny and (relatively) warm and just lovely, exam week is almost over and I didn't screw up my math test, I'm going to London (!!) in three days, and overall, things really couldn't be better. Just a few more months and I'm done with school - I can hardly imagine

CARDIGAN, H&M / FLOWERED BUBBLE SKIRT, H&M / BELT, VINTAGE

2010-03-19T03:25:00.000-07:00

"My outlook has always been that people in the streets aren't dressing to please me, why should I take them into account when dressing myself?"

- Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast on not being afraid of what everyone will think about the way you dress

Quote found at Kiss Me Quick

hello.

2010-03-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've refrained from saying anything about this, because I don't want my blog further spoiled with this crap than it already is, but since I start getting comments on my every single post, and I'm going to put this up in a very big font because I'm afraid this person doesn't really read anything. Somehow I still think all this might just be a stupid joke, but here you go:

Aris. I can't begin to imagine what you are trying to achieve by leaving these comments. I guess you are just a filthy-brained man who has to express his sexually frustrated mind by commenting on random girl's blogs. I hope you are not a psychopath and I really hope you don't harass girls in the street with comments like these. It's not normal to write stuff like this. I'm sick of hearing all about your sexual fantasies concerning my legs. It's gross and very offensive. I always delete them, but it's still tremendously nasty to have to read them every time.

Please stop commenting on my blog.

the girl that got away

2010-03-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided this was the best photo. And put up the other "best" photo as a Facebook profile picture, haha. It just seemed a waste to never use it!

note: I would never, ever venture out into the street wearing such a short skirt with such sheer tights. But more is acceptable in photographs, I think? Or I hope.

YANN TIERSEN - LA VALSE DES MONSTRES

si tu n'étais pas là

2010-03-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

SHIRT, ZARA / BELT, MY SISTER'S CLOSET / SKIRT, H&M / TIGHTS, H&M

To take my mind off school a bit, I made pictures this afternoon in the hallway in front of my house. I quite like how they turned out - a bit too much maybe, because it's hard to choose which ones I like best! I have some sort of one-picture-per-entry policy on my blog, because I think it's better to put one large picture in a blog entry, than fifteen tiny pictures that look very alike and make it look like you're creating a comic book. I do quite like how this shot turned out though, and I'll put up a picture of the whole outfit as soon as I've decided which one I like most!

i am the queen and you are the king, it's only natural for us to spend the night

2010-03-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

I found this leather bag at a flee market for €5,- and when I visited Laura Dols (a famous vintage store in Amsterdam) this weekend I saw that they sell old leather purses for up to 30 euros there. The ones they sold there were in quite bad condition and most of the time they're not even that old, more like someone's grandma's leftover handbag from the nineties. There's so much more fun in finding a hidden treasure somewhere in a flee market, thrift store or Salvation Army than to find something at a vintage store that you know is worth a fraction of the price you're paying and was hand-picked by someone else.

p.s. I'm on bloglovin now! click

LUCKY FONZ III - JANE ON THE ROOF

eiffel tower necklace

2010-03-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Eiffel tower necklace from Six. It was sort of against my principles to buy it because one of my friends has been wearing a miniature Tour Eiffel around her neck for ages, but then I saw that it has a key and a bird and a little pearl on it so I just couldn't resist.

It's exam week, the last one before the finals, and so right now my life is mostly a lot of studying, eating and sleeping. I did have a very nice weekend, but somehow that makes it even harder to focus on math and French? By the way, I never thought I'd need to memorize "Quelle belle combination de ski!" or "Ne me touche pas, ça va un peu trop vite!" for school - they've decided to test our knowledge of French by role-playing and one of the situations will be Rendez-vous avec un inconnu, in other words, a blind date, in which I will have to talk to a teacher and tell them their ski gear/car/dancing is so nice and whether they'd like to have another drink with me. I'll bet it will be one of the awkwardest things I've ever done.

polka dot

2010-03-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

I can't think of anything lovelier than a boy who lends you a cardigan from their closet when you're cold and that cardigan turning out to be utterly awesome. And then, their letting you borrow it for a few days so you can walk around in school feeling all cozy, and make pictures in your messy room and turn the hue to pink because that's the colour that describes your mood the best right now.

JANIS JOPLIN - SUMMERTIME

Devendra Banhart - Feel just like a child

2010-03-08T02:22:00.001-08:00

He is like a pirate in boxershorts. I love everything about this.

des chaussures

2010-03-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

I bought both of these pairs at Tango, which miraculously seemed to be the only store left where they had pretty shoes (oh, Zara had some pretty ones too, but they never have my size and the girls who work there are completely obnoxious.).

LA ROUX - I'M NOT YOUR TOY

houndstooth tights

2010-03-08T01:44:00.000-08:00

I love these tights so much. They were given to me by a friend because they were too short for her, and while I'm not as tall as she is even for me these are a bit short (I'm 1.68 and these are a size L, pretty strange) but they do fit when I pull them up a lot and they are so sixties, I adore them.

I went outside to make these pictures with a tripod and I didn't even get any weird looks; my street isn't really busy so I thought I could risk it, but there were people passing by on bikes and an old lady who was working in her garden and they didn't even look! I think that's sort of a Dutch thing; yesterday quite a well-known comedian (Sara Kroos, van de Lama's) came into the place where I work, and we all acted like everything was normal and just sort of ignored the fact that she was there. In Holland, people always tend to ignore each other, which is sometimes nice but also sometimes a bit dull.

BERET - PRIMARK / CARDIGAN, ZARA / SKIRT, H&M / TIGHTS, H&M / SHOES, TANGO

KAISER CHIEFS - TAKE MY TEMPERATURE

i simply remember my favourite things and then i don't feel so bad

2010-03-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

I've added a list of my favourite sites to the sidebar of this blog. In the 'lovely girls' section are all of the personal style blogs I love and read daily; the 'inspiration' list consists of blogspots and tumblrs that I go to for pretty pictures; 'streetstyle' speaks for itself I assume and 'art & photography' are blogs and sites of artists and photographers I admire. I wanted to add a 'random' list, but maybe Blogger has a limit of links you can add because all of a sudden it didn't work any more!

p.s. If you'd like to be added to the list, just email me or leave a comment or something and I'll take a look at your blog!

EMILIE SIMON - CHANSON DE TOILE

miss, why are you wearing a bubble?

2010-03-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

LACE SHIRT, SUPERSTAR / BUBBLE SKIRT, H&M / TIGHTS, H&M / SHOES, TANGO

What better season to start a new blog than spring? When the sun starts shining, it's like everything suddenly has come alive; all of the colors are much more vivid, you hear birds sing all the time (why don't you ever hear birds sing in winter? Do they just shut up when it's cold? I can't say I blame them) and you abruptly realize you're in dire need of a lot of new stuff.. So I've spent this month's entire paycheck (oops) on clothes. I can't say I found most shops very attractive; all we have here are high street shops and, apart from H&M, everything feels much the same as what I saw last year, and the year before that. I did find some great things though, the first of which you can see above. The lace shirt I found at Superstar, at a discount from €50,- to €15,-; I can't imagine why nobody wanted it, it's a lovely shade of mint green. The tights came in a two-pack with the polka dotted ones I was getting, so I never even meant to buy them, but I actually like them a lot. The bubble skirt is an "old" (old being last winter) favourite - I wear it quite a lot - and the shoes. Oh, the shoes. They're ankle boots with quite high heels and I found them at a store called Tango, that I normally find too tacky. I love them -I will do another post on them, to give them the attention they deserve.

welcome to the paper bird love songs

2010-03-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

I could never have lived long without a blog. Where else would I have to put on all my pictures, and all the things I'm inspired by, and the things I wish I had - and where else could I ramble on and on about clothes? So, here it is, the new Appelflauwte. It will have better pictures, and less random stuff than the previous one, but will also be much the same; welcome to

paper bird love songs.

(P.S, I made the bird out of old magazines and postcards. It's really quite a nice thing to do when you're bored - it takes a lot of time and the results are pretty satisfying.)