Sunday List

Time is going so fast now, it's insane. The plus side of that is that my parents are going to be here soon! :)

1. DINOSAUR

This little critter was staring at us through the bars of the zoo when we walked past the other day...so excited to go!

Budget less than £10 around the Netherlands
Sorry, we don't have anything in this section.

2. Reality sinking in!

Looking at the Eurostar website and see this unfortunately appropriate page. Everything is expensive here, Dan and I are burning through money!

3. Chaos

 We walked past this flat near Waterlooplein. It's just a tad overgrown!

4. Notes from work

Astrid is on holiday next week and left me a note which made me smile! I hope those mice have a great Queen's day but it won't be from my crumbs!

5. Lawless

The perfect Sunday night was spent on the sofa with my boy eating Nachos and M&Ms and watching the beauty that is Tom Hardy in Lawless.

Life is good :)

Orange is in the air

 

Queen's day is coming...!

 

Sunday List

Another weekend gone! We've officially been here 5 weeks now and time is going too quickly! This week has been insane at work

 

 

1. What Women Want.

 

The What Women Want fair was this weekend and Monique Collignon Corporate was showing there. On Friday I helped Ellen set everything up at the venue which was in Utrecht. The whole thing was an amazing and fun experience but SO. TIRING.

 

 

2. ICE CREAM

 

Dan and I had the best Saturday night ever, running out for supplies and coming home stocked with ice cream, squirty cream, wafers and brownie ready for the best ice cream sundae ever!

 

3. Bagels and Beans

 

Yum yum. Twice in 2 weeks and I ain't even mad! DELICIOUS. Their honey mustard sauce makes me want to die

 

4. SUNSHINE!!!!!!!!

 

This week has been delightfully sunny! Hopefully it stays forever now, I'm so bored of Winter!

 

 

5. This Song

 

Klangkarussell - Sonnentanz. Played constantly on Dutch radio and painfully catchy - it makes me think of lying in the grass on hot sunny days :)

Voorjaars Markt

 

Today we went to the DapperMarkt's Spring special. The market isn't normally open on a Sunday so we knew this was going to be a Big. Deal.

 

AWWWWWWWWWH

It was great! Lots of stalls we'd not seen before and some old classics who had upped their game. My favourite stall was selling second hand clothes for €1! I restrained myself and spent €3 on a cardigan, a scarf and a Snoopy jumper!

 

 

When we'd finished browsing we got a portion of chips each and went to sit in the park and enjoy the weather. A very nice man took some pictures for us because we realised we had none of the two of us together (...and because I really liked my outfit)

 

 

I have saved the best part of the day until last...I finally FINALLY got myself the vintage page boy hat of my dreams...did I mention I love the market?!

 

Happy as a Clam

 

 

 

Bunny Bargains of the Day!

Say Hello to my little friends!

 

These cute little bunnies were half price in the Easter sale at Albert Heijn. Dan and I have always walked past them and I've commented how amazingly kitsch and adorable they are, but never fully committed

 

 

Today there was only one packet left and as I picked them up for the thousandth time I decided they were too good to miss! For €2.40 I can keep them forever, as a reminder of our Easter in Holland.

 

 

This bad boy is my favourite! He bloody loves those carrots!

 

Speaking of bunnies...

 

Guess who I thought of when I saw this table near my work?

 

:)

 

As we were leaving the supermarket I went to give back the trolley and collect my euro. I walked past the flower stand and these mini geraniums in their own mini vase were exactly a euro! I called it fate. Dan called it an addiction.

 

 



Sunday List

 

 

 

Another weekend gone! Lex came to stay with us and we had a really great weekend, it was nice to be normal human beings and go out for dinner and buy things instead of our usual budgeting (although we're paying for it this week!)

 

Which brings us nicely to the best part of my week which was undoubtedly:

 

 

1. Lex's reaction to our stairs

 

If I've not mentioned before, our stairs are epic. I hate them so much, they are definitely the worst part of living here. Wobbly, steep and with a broken handrail it's a case of when I fall up/down them, not if...! That being said, opening the door and seeing Lex's pure fear of having to get a suitcase up (and more terrifyingly, back down!) was hilarious.

 

 

2. PUG BAGS

PUG BAGS. PUG BAGS. PUG BAGS. One day, my pretties.

 

 

3. Amazing wine bottle

 

We toasted our flat and Lex's arrival with a bottle of sickly and alcoholic pink fizz so that I could nab the bottle afterwards! It says "Be Sparkling. Love. Taste Life. Be a star. Celebrate. Share happiness or go home"

 

 

4. TopCat the movie

 

Dan and I watched TopcCat the movie and ate biscuits one night last week and it was perfect :) He really is the most tip top, Top Cat.

 

 

5. CAT PURSE

 

I FINALLY GOT MY CAT PURSE. I spotted this the weekend we moved in and went on a quest to find it. at €1.99 it apparently flew off the shelves and I lost all hope of ever finding it. Until Saturday night when we walked into Albert Heijn Fredriksplein with our bellies rumbling for some Stroopwafel and there it was. Just one, on the shelf, waiting for me. FATE

 

 

That's it :) What a lovely, materialistic weekend I have had!

 

 

 

HEMA Nail Varnish

 

When we first moved here I found it really hard to find a review of HEMA make up/nail varnishes that wasn't written in Dutch and I really debated buying any

 

The nail varnishes are €2.50 so I sort of disregarded them because I thought they'd be too cheap to be of any real quality, but when I saw the chameleon range I couldn't resist. The only thing I can think to liken the range to would be Model's Own Beetlejuice - but these are much less glittery

 

I picked up Chameleon Colbalt and fell in love. It was €3.75 as it's a special, but it's worth every cent! The pictures do not do the colour justice; it's a pure colbalt, vibrant blue with a Cadbury's purple sheen.

 

Now I know how good the quality is I'm definitely going to stock up before we come back!

Swans and Sequins

Getting a decent photo of my outfit was tough today! The skirt is tiny greeny sequins but it was a really grey evening so I was not sparkling!

 

This is a tiny snapshot of what Dan has to endure every day :)

 

 

Sunday List!

Representin'!

 I've been SO TIRED this week we haven't really done anything exciting, which is why my blog posts have been sparse. I think the Bank Holiday threw me out of sorts.

On Saturday we walked into the centre for the first time since we've been here and just explored which was fun :) Anyway, onto this week's list!

1. Sunshine!

We had proper sunglasses weather this week for the first time. Amsterdam is a beautiful city in all weather but the sunshine really makes special

Our first windmill sighting!

2. Anastasia

I watched Anastasia in Dutch today which was entertaining. Although I had a nap half way through so it can't have been that captivating!

3. International Pillow Fight Day

We stumbled into International Pillow Fight Day quite literally, suddenly the floor was lined with feathers and stuffing!

4. These bikes

MY BIKES. I would ride one every day if it looked like this!

5. Albert Heijn's Easter Sale

The supermarket was selling off some of their Easter bits half price and while I resisted a lot I couldn't say no to some gorgeous napkins

That literally translates as Slow in the Lunch*, which is a bit weird but hey, they look cute! I'm debating going back for some amazing kitsch bunny decorations but trying to resist!

And that's it for another week! Hopefully the next one will be a bit more exciting as Lex is coming to visit! EEE!

*I've just been told by Jilly at work that it means spring is in the air! Which is much nicer. Stupid Google!

Good Haul!

At the weekend we saw a sign on the door of a shop called Wibra (Great shop). It was in Dutch but we picked out that on April 3rd it was open until 9 pm and had 25% off something. When we went in we discovered it was 25% off everything!

The Breakfast at Tiffany's tin was a must have as I'd just finished re-reading the book that day. FATE. Then there's some flower icing cutters and Snoopy socks. Who doesn't need Snoopy socks? It all came to €3.13 so I'm very happy with our bargains

Tropenmuseum

Here are some pictures of our Tropenmuseum trip!

 

 

 

 

It's a good museum, You're allowed to touch lots of things and there are games and interactive things as you go round so it doesn't get boring!