2013: HAPPY NEW YEAR

photo made last year at the London Eye

We all survived 'the end of the world', it's now officially 2013!

So what was 2012 like? For me it was a year of things I can't even imagine to be only a year ago. I found someone I really liked, and still like. I left London and found another place in London, for yet another internship. I never visited the airport more than this year. Did a lot of fun things with my friends which includes Rock Werchter which was such an amazing experience. I attended an Olympic event and met new people. I went to my very first RingCon and met a lot of amazing actors. I'm about to finish school and got most of my 'point' to actually graduate.

A lot more happened but for now, I just wanted to wish all of you A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all have an amazing New Years Eve and are enjoying a glass of champagne or wine with family or friends. I'll be somewhere in a pub in London, probably drinking a wine with my boyfriend and his friends. Enjoy your nights!

Concert photography, a first

Nerdmas

This is a little impression of what I did for Christmas with friends. Or as we call it.. Nerdmas!

Tag: First thing..

I saw this tag on deliciae.org and thought I'd give this a try.

A random photo of me and a Aragorn cosplayer at RingCon 2012.

First thing you do when you wake up in the morning:

Turn of my alarm clock and snooze it for another 10 minutes. After that I check if I've got any messages most of the time. Then I get up to turn on my computer and take a shower or get dressed. It depends on what I did the night befroe.

First things you do when you get to the gym:
As I actually go to the gym, I lock down my bike first and get in to change, fill up my water bottle and do some bodypump, spinning or work out.

Review: Essie polish

This is my 100th post! In 7 months I managed to post 100 posts, I'd say this is my best attempt on blogging so far. Thanks for still following and commenting guys!

And as you read this blog, I'm in the a long car drive on my way to Austria. I did line up some posts before I went on which I worked really hard. So I hope you all enjoy these posts. And I'll try to post a blog about how my Christmas and NYE were/are, but I'm not sure if I have WiFi or the time to do it. Expect some posts about it in the new year, January 3rd I'm back and kicking! Now on the the review.

InstaDiary: 1st part of December

I made so much Instagram photos this month. That I'm going to split it in two. And this is going to be the very first half of December.

My boyfriend came over, as we always do we go out for a lot of lunches and dinners. Because we have to catch up on a month not seeing each other. We went to this very cute coffee shop which was called 'Koffie & Ik' and had brunch at the Bagels & Beans. We visited my parents and went for a walk with the four of us, the view was amazing, just like the weather. I also decided to light up my new candle: Winter Time.

So many places to visit

So this is going to be another post in Dutch. Sorry guys. As this concerns an article about a Dutch website. The next post will definitely be in English again.

Ik roep al ontzettend lang dat ik nog zo graag wil reizen. In een ander land wil wonen. Dit laatste heb ik al bereikt en ga ik dan ook voortzetten met opnieuw mijn vertrek naar Londen vanaf eind januari. Maar er zijn nog zoveel meer plekken waar ik graag naar toe wil. Want ik ben nog lang niet overal geweest. En hierom blijf ik zeggen, de komende 8 jaar wil ik sowieso nog geen kinderen, want ik MOET reizen. En waar wil ik nou echt nog heen? Hier volgt voor jullie een lijstje.

Rome, want hier ben ik nog helemaal niet geweest. Ik wil ontzettend graag het Colosseum zien en de stad bewonderen. En is dit niet gewoon haalbaar? Natuurlijk wel, zolang ik maar niet in het midden van de zomer ga. Maar zo zijn er nog heel wat meer steden in Europa die ik nog ontzettend graag wil zien. Athene en alle oude Griekse cultuur. Ik wil toch stiekem weer een keer terug naar Parijs. En ik ben ook nog helemaal niet zoveel in het oosten van Europa geweest. En steden als Stockholm, ja ik wil ook ontzettend graag een keer het noordelijke deel van Europa zien, want volgens mij is de Scandinavische natuur prachtig.

Maar buiten Europa, natuurlijk wil ik daar maar al te graag heen. En stiekem heeft dit ook toch wel de prioriteit. Zoals ik jullie eerder in een blog heb verteld wil ik ontzettend graag naar New York. Maar wat ik nog liever zo willen, een road trip door Amerika. Heel veel steden langs, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington. Ja ik wil er allemaal wel heen, maar mijn portemonnee, die laat nog even op zich wachten.

Daarnaast hoeft een vakantie niet ontzettend duur te zijn. Heb je een flexibele baan, boek dan gewoon een last minute. Deze zijn helemaal niet zo duur, vooral niet in de combinatie van vliegreis en hotel samen.

Ben jij eventueel nog op zoek naar een stedentrip? Check deze link, en misschien staat er nog wel wat voor je tussen.

Waar wil jij nog graag eens heen?

Review: BB cream

Without the BB cream on. I'm not wearing any make-up on this picture. 

Crush #6: Ian Somerhalder

It was about time for another crush. Ian Somerhalder. Most of you might know him as Damon Salvatore in the Vampire Diares, or maybe Boone in Lost. He has been a model before his acting career but picked the acting over the modeling. But Ian also has his own foundation called ISF. (Ian Somerhalder Foundation) And as I worked along to the International Green Awards (in London) last year I know he won one for 'Most Responsible Celebrity' this year. He launched his foundation on the 8th of December 2010, which is also his birthday. He hopes to educate people on the importance of protecting the environment and animals: "Instead of gifts this year, my birthday wish is that we come together and raise funds to support projects that protect our habitat and nurture our furry friends.

And next to all that.. We have to say he's quite enjoyable to look at, isn't he?

Food: Wahaca

As I was going through some of my old pictures, I thought.. Why not share one of my favorite restaurants in London with you guys. And all though I like a lot of different kinds of food. The one restaurant I really want to go to everytime I'm in London. Is: Wahaca. A Mexican place which serves the food like tapas. You can order different kind of dishes and share it with a group, in this way, you're able to get a bit of everything.

Dreamhouse #10

Christmas Lights

Midnight premieres

Midnight premieres. A lot of you might have never been to one. But I definitely have. The last three Harry Potter movies, Eclipse and the Dark Knight Rises. Those are the movies I've seen in the middle of the night. And the next one will be.. The Hobbit! And as I've never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies in an actual cinema, (I know, terrible) I'm super excited.

Tonight at 12-12-'12 staring at 0:12 I'll see the Hobbit in Pathe Eindhoven, dressed Hobbit-like. Because I'm planning to wear a part of my Frodo outfit, I'm not going all out as I want to get comfortable while watching the movie. But a bit of it, definitely!
I might blog a review later, when the movie is released a bit longer. With of course pictures, and as we're going with a group of 15 people, that will not be a problem!

What do you guys think of midnight premieres? Have you ever been so passionate about a movie that you had to see it the night it released.

Favourite #2: Mumford & Sons

So I've decided that the 'Favourite' I did a while ago might be a good recurring subject. I'll pick a subject of whatever, last time it was my own jewellery. This time it's going to be one of my favourite bands at the moment: 'Mumford & Sons'. 
As I just watched their new film on Blu-Ray. The Road to Red Rocks. I fell absolutely in love again. For those of you who don't know Mumfors & Sons (which seems slightly impossible) they're a British folk rock band from London and got popular in quite a short amount of time. The band consists of Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, "Country" Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane.
They're absolutely amazing live and as I saw them at Rock Werchter last year I can definitely say they are. I have to miss out on their show in Amsterdam as I'll be in London for my internship at that time. And as they're doing their shows in London right now, I'm not gonna be able to go unfortunately. But there might be an opportunity over the summer, as I'm sure they'll do some festivals. The music they make sound like a sunny autumn afternoon which I would be able to enjoy every day.

Watch the trailer for their new cd/dvd/blu-ray here. And the newest music video over here. What do you all think of Mumford and Sons?

To old for dressing up?

First of all, thanks so much all for the comments on my video. I've got a lot of comments on me 'not looking in the camera'. But I've got a flip screen, so I was looking at.. myself. I'll try to pay attention to that next time and thanks for pointing it out to me. 

Video: What do you guys think?

What would you guys think of me doing some more videos like this? Travel videos, event videos, reviews? Would it be good as a weekly thing? Let me know!

I've been doing this a few times before but thought it might be a nice combination for the blog. Especially with a lot of events and holidays are coming up. Hope I did okay in this one!

Going out the Country

I don't think I told you guys this yet. But I'll be gone for 2 weeks around the Christmas. Yes you heard that right, 2 weeks! So I won't be spending Christmas or New Years in the country and as I actually never been gone for both, this is going to be different but definitely very exciting. 

Christmas week will be spend in Austria together with my mom, dad, sister, boyfriend and two friends of my parents. Like every year since I was 3 years old. But this year.. My boyfriend is joining us, and it's actually his first ski holiday. We will be celebrating Christmas there and all though ski holidays are tiring, and this might sounds very weird, the mountain air gives me such a relaxed feeling. I love snow and don't mind the cold while being on a ski holiday. Skiing has been my sport for 14 years and I've been doing this professional, so it's means a lot to me. We'll stay in Austria for 6 days and from Innsbruck me and my boyfriend will fly to London!

And that's where I'll spend my New Years, just like last year. But this time I won't be going to the London Eye to see the fireworks. I'll spend it the British way, in a pub, with my boyfriend's mates. Definitely not drinking along with all the Brits, as I won't be able to handle their drinking habits. But not only New Years, I might be able to sort out some stuff for my apartment and the last bits for my internship. 

And if you're still wondering? I'm absolutely excited about this holiday!

Playing an instrument

You know what? I regret never starting to play an instrument. I had a discussion with friends about instruments and sport. As a parents makes a decision about what their kids start to do at a young. And of course they can decide on their own on a later age. I've always been to busy with sport. At one point I did skiing, gymnastics and tennis at the same time. So that meant.. Sporting 5 times a week. And of course that's to much for someone with the age of 8 years old. When I was 12 I stopped gymnastics and tennis and added jazz ballet. I only did that for one year as the skiing was already enough for me.

But I wish I started learning playing the piano or guitar. A lot of people around me play the piano brilliantly. Or sing while playing the guitar. I started playing the acoustic guitar a while ago, but still fail miserable. The thing which makes it even harder, I'm a lefty. Which makes it hard for people to help me out, because they have to teach me the other way around. But as I still can't play it.. I love watching videos on Youtube of people who can play an instrument amazingly. I'll show you some of my favorites, they make me want to play an instrument badly! The videos look amazing and wow, the instrumental performance. Amazing! So please check these videos out, if you play an instrument.. Or even if you don't. These guys are inspiring!

InstaDiary: November

InstaDiary! I've seen this on multiple blogs, but I don't want to spend a blogpost on this every week. So I'm keeping it a monthly thing, so you can all see what I've been doing the past month. This should be very interesting!

This was my week of studying, cozy socks, filming a video of an orchestra, the day my canvas came in and I enjoyed my very first Christmas Starbucks. Me and a friend chilling out at, yes school. A very 'busy' day haha. We just had our exam tho. The last two is one of my other besties getting her bachelor! So proud. The last one is her with her brother and sisters.

Dreamhouse #9

Hair; I don't care

As all of you know, I like changes. And as you can see, I changed my hair a lot. All this.. Happened in 3 years. (you might see a slight change in the way I dress as well) But from very long, ombre, and curly hair. I went to a short, one side shaved haircut. It's so weird to look at photos where my hair was still over my shoulders. It took me so much time to wash, take care of it and get ready in the morning.

The very first thing I did to my hair is dye my fringe and the bottom bit of my hair.. BLACK. Yes black. It already faded away in the first two pictures but you can definitely see the 'ombre' effect steel being there. The brown color on top, is my natural haircolor. Brown, and as you see, the red glow has always been there.

Later on, I decided to dye it red. And all though I changed from bordeaux to fire red, it always has been that way. I'm back to bordeaux now. With time I cut it shorter and shorter. And you know what? I never regret doing it. It's so much easier, my hair is thick and hard to handle, now it's short. It's a lot easier to get ready in the morning. One of the haircuts I still really enjoy.. The photo on which I wear the gray hat? My red ombre. I got my pointy end bleached and all though I only enjoyed this for around 3 months, I loved it. Some people told me: 'It looks like your hair is on fire.' Well that sounds like a good thing to me!

And now? I can't really do that much now. Dye it purple or maybe yellow? But shorter, no that's not an option anymore. But I'm definitely happy the way it looks now. And I only live once, and hair? Is not worth that much to me.

(Christmas) Wishlist

I seem to like black, don't I? Well in case someone sees this.. When you buy me one of these presents for Christmas.. You're good! (and very amazing)

I fell in love with Star Wars collection of Black Milk, can I afford any of these pieces? Definitely not! The 3 DVD's are definitely on my wishlist tho. Dexter season 1-5 (I got up to the end of season 2 in a week and a half, oeps?), New Girl and the special edition of the Dark Knight Rises.
All black Dr. Martens are definitely my style and will nicely fit next to my bordeaux ones. Just as the all black biker boots, love it. A cross or Batman top are always good with me, just as the leather biker jacket. As I don't really have a black bag this one seems like a nice one. And my sweet side definitely needs Taylor Swift's: Wonderstruck perfume.  

Favourite #1: Basic jewellery

Inspiration: Jeroen Toirkens

Daily make-up

Make-up. I wear it. But am not that much into it if I'm totally honest. I love natural, especially with skin colors. I hardly wear foundation, powders or concealers. When there are huge bags or spots in my face, I might put a bit on. But the only things I use daily are my mascara, eyeliner and lipstick. My eyebrows are quite heavy, that's why I hardly put on eyeshadow. And I don't really mind my freckles or imperfections in my face. Another thing.. It takes so much time! If there's very special party, or dress code I like to make my eyes smokey or give them a nice color. But not in my daily life. 

Excuse me for the condition my mascara is in. But I take this mascara with me quite a bit and that's why the print is coming of. But I use Maybelline: The Falsies. I've been using the Maybelline line for about 4 years now, I love it and it's actually affordable. I did try the Chanel mascara once, and it's amazing, but the price isn't. The eyeliner I use is a liquid one with a tiny brush. Glam Eyes from Rimmel London. It's the second time I bought this as I really liked it and keeps good all day. My all time favorit lipgloss is Mac's Diva, a bordeaux red. And because I don't wear that much make-up I can impress with my lips. (I don't wear this everyday, but try to wear it as much as I can)

Make-up isn't that important to me, I rather impress with clothes, accessoires or my hairstyle. Especially clothes is the thing I spend most of time on in the morning.

Shine a little light

Another thing I like about the winter, and the early sun down. Candles! Especially now I live on my own. They make me feel like it's almost Christmas and even if you're alone, the candles are there to give you some light. I like different colors but do want them to fit together. The candle in the glass is a scented one. Both my roommates smoke, inside the house, and is I'm a non and anti smoker and don't want my room to smell entirely like cigarettes. This little fella helps me out, and it really helps, my room is now surrounded by lemon-y smell.
The only important thing you can't forget.. Put those babies out before you go to bed!

The stores I buy them? There are a lot of stores in the Netherlands with candles. If you want cheap ones? Action, Blokker, Xenos.. But also IKEA, Hema and cute little stores you'll find around and about will definitely sell candles. If you got any recommendations, I would love to hear!

Cosplay & me #2

Get ready for part 2 of my cosplay costumes! Go to this link for part 1.

2011

This was also the year I went to my very first official convention, a Supernatural convention. And of course these have dress-up parties, I already dressed up as a normal Castiel for a Supernatural party I organized. But decided to go as a Leviathan Castiel this time. And if you never saw Supernatural this might be a bit confusing. But just look at the picture I used as the example and you will get it. Where did I get the outfit? The only thing I bought for this outfit is the tie and the black lenses. I got the trench coat at Neu Look even before I started watching Supernatural. A white shirt isn’t that hard to get, and the same for the black blazer, trousers and jazz shoes.

Sweater weather

It's cold, dark and winter is coming. And as I actually don't mind the winter, especially when it's snowy. I love shopping for new sweaters, cardigans and other winter fashion. The only bad thing, most of the time everything gets a bit more expensive. Until I ran in to this sweater.
"Oh look! That sweater is cute, look at the zippers." I expected a price around 40 euros, because it's H&M, and it couldn't be that expensive. But the card said 15 euros. I couldn't believe it and ran into the store to check it. And yes, it was really 15 euros. I would say that's a hell of a bargain!

I like my sweaters to be a bit big so it isn't to tight. And I bought a large of this one, yes a large. Normally I'm a size small, but this one seemed a bit tight and the large felt better than the medium. And here I am wearing my super comfy 15 euro sweater which I absolutely love!

Cosplay & me #1

Some of you guys have been asking for my cosplay experience. And as I really enjoy getting costumes together I thought I'd share my costumes with all of you. For those of you who don't know what cosplay is.. It's short for costume play. How do I get my stuff together? Most of the time I try to be creative and look in my own wardrobe first, vintage stores or just general stores like H&M and Zara. But some things like cloaks, can't be found in stores, my grandma and mom help me out by sowing these things together. I'll describe my costumes for you while writing this blog. (it'll come in 2 parts, so keep looking out for the second one) And I know not everyone knows I'm 'cosplaying' once in a while, but I'm absolutely not ashamed of it and love to do it. I'm a fangirl for life!

My first costume would've been at a really young age as I liked to get together my own Harry Potter costumes. With a black towel around my neck and a gray skirt I'd pretended to be Hermione. With my big and curly hair it easily turned out in something okay. But I got a bit more serious the first time I went to the Elf Fantasy Fair.

2009

Dreamhouse #8

Waking up nicely

A very good morning to all of you! I think it's one of those days on which you want to treat yourself with a lovely breakfast. Well at least when you've got some time, and late/no school or work. Well I definitely like to wake up with a breakfast like this once in a while.

- Cruesli with milk

- A lovely Turkish Apple flavored tea

- A cracker with salami, bree and cucumber. 

Noms!

Review: Canvas, pixum.nl

Pixum.nl asked me if I could do a review of one of their products, by getting one for free. I picked the canvas. For the visitors outside of the Netherlands, this is a Dutch website and you can only order if you live in the Netherlands or Belgium. This is the reason why I decided to write this review in Dutch. But don't be alarmed, all my other blogs will be in English, like always.

Here I go:
Nou dit is ook voor mij weer even wennen. Een blogje in het Nederlands schrijven. Maar aangezien Pixum toch een Nederlandstalige website is en ik akkoord ben gegaan met het schrijven van een review. Dacht ik dat het beter was in het Nederlands. Jullie hebben in een van mijn eerdere blogjes al gezien dat ik een foto reportage heb gemaakt van mijn 'LDR' (Long Distance Relationship). Ik heb uit deze serie een foto gekozen en laten drukken op een canvas.

Ik heb gekozen voor de canvas zonder lijst 4:3 op 30x40 cm. De foto heb ik uiteindelijk (na veel twijfelen) in zwart/wit opgestuurd omdat ik dit uiteindelijk simpelweg, leuker in mijn kamer vond passen. Met een klein weekje werd de canvas bij mij afgeleverd. En ik was eigenlijk een beetje verbaasd, wat een fijn papier en mooi afgewerkt lijstje. Vooral voor deze prijs was ik aangenaam verrast over hoe het er uit zag. De foto is mooi scherp gebleven en het materiaal voelt goed aan. Alles is helemaal intact en er zijn zelfs extra houtjes bij geleverd om het lijstje op te hangen.

Ik weet niet hoe ik dit lijstje mee ga nemen maar mijn vriend en ik het zijn het er beide over ons dat de canvas in ons appartement terecht moet komen. De grootte is precies goed en naast dat we beide toch ook wel gek zijn op deze foto, ben ik heel erg blij met hoe de canvas er uiteindelijk uitziet. Hij staat nu gezellig op mijn kleine kamertje (ze hebben liever niet dat ik spijkers in de muren sla) en ik ben er nog steeds ontzettend blij mee.

Wil jij ook iets bestellen op Pixum.nl? Ga dan naar deze link.

(I made some changed to the layout, wasn't completely happy with my last design. This one will stay for a while tho!)

London news!

I've got some great news for all of you. Some of you might already know. But I was in London last week to visit my boyfriend and for an internship interview. And guess what..? I GOT IT! I'm going back to London! But this time it's actually for my graduation which will add making a massive thesis and my own product. All though I'm going to be insanely busy. I'm so excited to go back to the city I love. 

But not only that, me and my boyfriend decided that when I got the internship that we're going to look for an apartment together. And another pro, we already got one! So no stress for internships, no stress for a place to live. I can get my stuff together, move in and start living my life. I'll go back to London somewhere start of February and a lot of people think I might stay.. But I'll have to wait and see, because I just want to see how everything works out. 

I can't wait to go back and look forward to some other fun posts the next few days.

Crush #5: Emma Watson

Source: google.com

I thought it was time for another of my crushes. As it's been a while. It's a girly one again. And this time it's Emma Watson. It has been a bit quiet around her after the last Harry Potter movie but after the Perks of Being a Wallflower releasing I couldn't help but picking her for a blogpost. 

Emma must have been one of my first girlcrushes ever. As a big Harry Potter fan Emma has always been some sort of role model for me. I grew with her in age and wanted to be her.. Or would it have been Hermione. All though after making some fansites about her on a very young age. (around 12 years old) I followed everything she did and wore. And all though Emma's style isn't entirely what I'm into right now, I still admire her as a person. I'm still following the project she's working on and am secretly still really proud and happy with the autograph I got of her. And yes I did see her twice in real life. I can say I'm a Emma Watson fangirl.