Like a lobster

It is way too hot outside. Today the thermometer hit the 30 degrees Celsius..pfft! And by then my energy level falls below zero...

Yesterday boyfriend S. and I had a really relaxing day at the beach of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Wadden-islands. The weather was wonderful but..we kind of forgot to put sunscreen on. And at the end of the day, back on the boat to the mainland, we both slowly turned redder and redder. Today we looked like lobsters. I even wear a permanent pair of glasses now... I will post some photo's of this day later this week *promiss*

To the lovely lady Martina in Croatia

To Sade in Finland

To Elena, Russia

To Nathalie, Belgium

To Jitka, Czech Republic

To Sabine, Germany

Busy busy busy

What a busy time of the year! June is 15 days on its way and this is my first post of the month. What was going on?! Well first of all I started my new job a few weeks ago, which means I am quite exhausted when I come home and the temptation of couch+movie with boyfriend is very attractive. And when I did spend an evening behind the computer I was busy finishing two websites for friends. This one for Marion, who has started her own dog training company. And this one for Ine, who is a great painter/sculptor.

And speaking about Ine, on the 3th of June I visited her. She lives with her husband and son in Garmerwolde. A tiny little village in the north of the Netherlands. I had a great time! First we visited a man whole sells flea market goods in his garage. It was good stuff! Ine bough two bistro chairs and a lovely blue bench. I bought this:

A retro jug with apples

And a lovely container with rose hips on it

After the flea market garage we went to see their new abyssian kitten. Only six weeks old and so cute! Unfortunately they have to wait untill 20 July to take the kitten home.

They already have a cameleon, who eates living grasshoppers. And I definately don't like grasshoppers (probably because of the hopping part) But the animal itself is great :) and not scared of the camera.

I also took the liberty to take some pictures of her house, because I'd love to live there myself

A part of the backyard where you can sit, warm and dry all year round

The kitchen she designed by herself

Other side of the kitchen, with large garden view

Detail of the sink (love this part)

A new letter from this great Croatian girl, can't wait to reply to her lovely letter and bits.

She has sent me 4 nice pictures from Zagreb...

...and two nice postcards

This card came in from the USA, from Nancie

I now work for a school where students are educated to be a teacher or knowledge-manager in green education. There are 11 study area's, which vary from livestock to floral design. Last week there was an exhibition from the last department, and I took some photo's. There were some real pieces of art, I didn't realise you could do so much with flowers!

Retro/vintage/old school: what's in a name?

In this 21st century people tend to revert to things from the past. And I don't mean products like floppy disks, no, I refer to retro design, vintage fashion and old-school techniques. For example: today I made two pillow covers out of thrift shop shawls;

And when I took those pictures (with my dígital camera) my eye fell on other retro/vintage stuff in the house...

This orange orange-shaped watering can was my mother's but she did not like the orange anymore.

Not sure actually in which decade this glass belongs...

Light bulb shaped bottle. In the Netherlands bulbs are about to be scarce.

And to stay in the vintage/retro section, this week I bought a Diana F+ camera. It is a so called lomography camera, which allows the photographer to take pretty unique analog pictures. The device is almost completely made out of plastic and the camera comes with a 'lifestyle' including ten golden rules.

1. Take your camera everywhere you go.

2. Use it any time, day and night.

3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.

4. Try the shot from the hip.

5. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.

6. Don't think. (William Firebrace)

7. Be fast.

8. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film.

9. Afterwards either.

10. Don't worry about any rules.

Today I finished my first film, and I hope to get it develloped and printed this week. While waiting on that, I will work on remembering those rules :)

My ultimate retro/vintage/old school wish.....

A few out going pieces

To Lily, Belarus

To Sanne, Wageningen in The Netherlands

My second attempt of sending a letter to Catherine in Russia, this time in Cyrillic...

To Olga in the Ukraine

To Michi in Poland

To Caroline in the UK

Must see movies

Because I like to watch movies, a lot, I hereby present you a list of five must-see movies. You probably have seen the lot, but it won't harm you to watch them again (and again and again and again)

I would like to start this list with 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain'. I can watch this movie over and over again. And I especially like her house..a lot!

A few months ago I finished the book 'Water for Elephants' which I absolutely adored. Yesterday afternoon I saw the movie in the cinema. It was great! The makers stayed close to original story and the actors did a great job.

Good old 'Dirty Dancing', another movie which I've watched a lot. Such a romantic story and it makes me want to dance the merengue and the mambo and and and...

Juno, already wrote something about this one last week. I also found the soundtrack the other day and it is really funny.

And off course 'Little Miss Sunshine'. Olive is such a sweet girl growing up in a crazy but realistic family (mostly anyway).

There was also a little mail activity last week:

From Kasumi, Russia

From Slavik, Ukraine

And this is a funny thing: a few weeks ago I sent this envelop to Catherine in Russia. According to the sticker it has been in Russia, but it could not be delivered. So I got it back..without the stamps... This week I will try again.

I received these beautiful pictures from a Dutch lady the other day. The photo's are made by Edward Steichen. I hadn't heard from him before, so I googled him. He made some amazing photo's, I especially like 'The Pond Moonlight'. Hard to believe that it is actually a photo.

A home made card for Juli in Finland.

A volcano for a lady in the Czech Repubic

An art deco stained glass flower card for Maja in Slovenia