Lush Loving

I think a beauty blogger who does not know of/love Lush products is an unusual one. With their handmade assortment of goodies it's hard not to fall head over heels the second you walk through the door of one of their stores and catch that heavenly scent rolling through the air.
I remember the first Lush product I ever got was a bath bomb (naturally!) absolutely heaving with glitter and the experience revolutionized bath time for me.

Whilst showing my mum around Utrecht during her weekend visit, we popped into the Lush store to check out the new Halloween and Christmas collections. My nose was treated to many a whiff of deliciously sweet, spicy products that brought forth vivid memories of Christmas puddings, hot glasses of egg nog and cosy family celebrations. I am a complete sucker for anything 'Christmas scented'.
My mum, wonderful lady that she is, offered to treat me to something and it took me forever to decide which of the Christmas range I would go for, flitting backwards and forwards across the store having a sniff of this and a feel of that. I finally settled on the Bûche de Noël face and body cleanser, handmade with fresh ingredients including cranberries, satsumas, crushes almonds and brandy! It's nutty, sweet, rich and the hint of booziness gently tickles the back of your nose (fear not, if alcohol is not your thing, there is an alcohol free version of any Christmas products containing a tipple). I knew the smell reminded me of something (other than the generic Christmas smell) but it didn't hit me until today, if you're from Yorkshire you'll probably know what I'm on about, the smell is just like a 'Tipsy Imp' from Thomas The Baker! If I remember correctly, It's basically a boozy mince pie with a lovely sugary icing over the top instead of pastry, but they are divine whatever they are and they smell like this.  

The greeny-brown layer on the top is Nori seaweed, yes, like the sushi!

To use the face cleanser (I only use it for my face as my skin can be problematic and I like to make the product last a little longer by only using it on a smaller area) you pinch out a little lump, I generally go for something in the region of a small grape or large blueberry, and mix it in to a paste with a little water in the palm of your hand. Then take this and rub it over the area you wish to cleanse and finally rinse it off. I suggest doing this in the shower as you don't need to worry about lumpy bits flying everywhere! The cleanser contains cocoa butter and a variety of essential oils which get massaged into your skin as you scrub and leave it feeling moisturised and smooth afterwards. I've only used it a couple of times and already a little flare up of spots I had has started to retreat. Big, jolly 10 out of 10 for this one, folks!

Whilst queuing at the checkout to purchase the aforementioned cleanser I spotted the range of Toothy Tabs on a nearby shelf. I first experienced these a few months ago when Arjan's sister bought some of the 'Breath Of God' tabs and I was allowed to try some. They are basically little, solid pills of toothpaste but without preservatives and instead of a big plastic tube, they come in a tiny recycled cardboard box. The flavors are anything but conventional as well, ranging from sandal wood and fennel to mint and wasabi. You chew up the pill between your front teeth, wet your brush and carry on as normal. At first its a bit of an odd sensation, solid toothpaste that you chew?! But when you feel those squeaky-clean pearly-whites and notice how long the freshness lasts you will be hooked.
I opted for 'Chou Chou... I love you' which is a delightful blend of rose and lemon. It's reminiscent of good quality Turkish Delight and leaves the breath floral without smelling like Granny's perfume. Arjan is even enjoying them and, as someone who is always insistent on super-minty toothpastes, the pleasantly surprised look on his face when he first tried them was... well... pleasantly surprising!
I can honestly say I think we have been converted from toothpaste to Toothy Tabs and I plan on trying a different variety every time we need a new box!

In Stitches: Slouchy Beanie

Arjan modeling his new hat beautifully

Here you can see the decreasing K2togs forming a spiral pattern.

I've gotten back into knitting again, having taken a break over the summer. Last year I learnt how to knit a simple beanie on straight needles by, essentially, knitting a rectangle of pattern and then joining the edges to form the hat. This year I got some circular needles from my mum (cheers Loz!) and I decided to try out some things on them.
The first thing I thought of was a better beanie pattern! On the circular needles it is so easy, every row is a 'right-side' row and there are no seams on the finished product.

I started with casting on 80 stitches on my 6.5mm circular needles and began with a knit 2, purl 2 ribbing. Once the ribbing is as long as you want it, just knit, knit knit! You can work out where the 'end of a row' is by finding the tail end of the yarn and following the stitches up (I hope this makes some kind of sense) or to make life easier you can use a stitch marker of some kind!
When you've reached a length about 1 inch shorter than the top of your head (you can measure this by trying on your hat-in-progress and seeing if it's big enough) you need to start decreasing stitches.
You should have 80 to start with:
On the first round knit 8 then knit 2 tog (K2tog), repeat.
Then do a normal round of knitting all stitches.
Next knit 7 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 6 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 5 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 4 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 3 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 2 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
Knit 1 then K2tog, repeat.
Knit all stitches.
K2tog, repeat.

(If all has gone well) You should end up with 8 stitches at this point, you now want to cut a good tail of yarn and join all of these stitches together by passing the tail through all of them, using a tapestry needle. You can then turn the hat inside out, tie a good knot in the end of the tail and trim it/weave in the end. And voila! You can admire your newly created slouchy beanie!

I hope this has made some vague kind of sense, it may be that only people with at least a basic knowledge of knitting can muddle through and work out what I'm trying to get at, but hey ho! Give it a try and comment if you find a problem.

Outfit: Autumn Knit Wear

Sunglasses - market in Brighton
Scarf - Self-knitted
Jumper - H&M
Skirt - H&M
Boots - Urban Outfitters 

I love Autumn outfits, they're so cosy and comfortable and layering gives you so many more options. I got this jumper in the sales a few weeks ago and I've been wearing it so much recently. It's the perfect weight, heavy enough but loosely knit so if it's a bit warmer it isn't too thick worn on its own.
I'm also pretty proud of my scarf so I've been wearing it a lot too, sometimes even when it's not really weather appropriate, which has resulted in some over-heating situations.

Back to Black

I’ve always loved dying my hair, never one for drastic hair cuts, it’s my way of changing things up for a while. I quickly get bored though and move onto something different, so no colour has ever lasted more than a box or two.

Suprisingly, I’ve had my hair red for almost a whole year now! But after a bleaching incident that shall never be repeated, I fancied something a little less high maintenance. I searched Pinterest for inspiration and found myself leaning towards shimmering blacks with a hint of blue. I’ve done something similar in the past so knew it would work and got onto the internet to see which brand of dye had the best option. I quickly narrowed it down to the Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Marines, no other brand had such a strong blue tone.

Sadly, it proved almost impossible to find. None of the drug stores in the Netherlands had it and so I had to order from Superdrug and have my mum send it on to me. 

It all went swimmingly and I was really pleased with the results, until Arjan spotted the red patches at the back... 

So a correctional hair-dressers appointment later and I'm all fixed up. The colour I've ended up with is a lot less blue than the Nutrisse, but now that it's even all over, when I need to do my roots I will get another box of that to freshen it up. 

In Stitches: Socks

I've recently gotten back into knitting whilst watching telly. I think I was spurred into it by the sudden change in weather that we had a couple of weeks ago (although we're now getting an indian summer) and I picked up a couple of pieces I'd started earlier in the year.
As a relatively inexperienced knitter, I didn't stray far from simple beany hats, scarves and... well that's pretty much it, but then I got a little more confident and decided I wanted to try something a little more testing. When I first found my mother-in-law's double pointed needles I was a little terrified at the prospect of so many pokey bits at once, but my mum suggested looking up a sock tutorial and giving it a go.
I perused the web for something simple enough and not completely daunting and came across this tutorial called Silver's Sock Class. I had a read through and was pleasantly surprised at how clearly everything was laid out, there were pictures, colour coordinated stitch numbers and needle by needle instructions.
I decided that Arjan would be the lucky owner of sock test run #1 and let him pick out some yarn for it. He went with an alternating white/grey/black and, with needles in hand, I went boldly into the unknown!

The first few rounds were hell, I won't lie. I was being stabbed left, right and centre and had an almost overwhelming urge to throw the whole thing across the room and cry. But I soldiered on and after a while began to get the hang of manoeuvring this point here and turning that point there to obtain the minimum wounds.
Now don't ask me what yarn weight I was using, I still have no idea how to work that out if I don't have the packaging in front of me, so I went with the sock weight instructions as I would rather the sock were a little too big than a little too small.
I don't remember how long it took me to complete sock #1, but I remember being fairly obsessive with it as I was terrified of putting it down and not being able to find where I was again.
When it was finished I was amazed at how sock like it was! There were no unsightly holes, lumps or bumps and more importantly, like Cinderella with her glass slipper, it fit Arjan perfectly!

After the stress of completing sock #1, I started sock #2 but then decided I needed a break to recuperate.... and didn't pick up my needles again for the next 6 months.
As previously mentioned, I decided to start knitting again a couple of weeks ago and, fearing that I had forgotten how to knit, I picked up an unfinished circle scarf with a simple knit 3, purl 3 pattern to ease myself back into it.
Upon the completion of the scarf (which may well feature in a post sometime soon) I knew it was time to pick up the tiny ring of ribbing that was the start of sock #2's ankle.
It went swimmingly! There were only a couple of incidents when I sat questioning the universe why I had done this to myself, but they were fleeting and before I knew it, I was grafting the toe of sock #2!
Nervously, I took both socks in hand and held them heel to heel and lo and behold, they were the same size!!

I had done the impossible (for me anyway) and created, with my own two hands, a pair of socks! I am so proud of myself, I feel like I could knit socks for an army!
Because I used thicker yarn, these are lovely, chunky, toasty socks and I think I'll buy some of those little sticky-pad-things for the sole so they're like slipper socks. Anyway, here they are modelled beautifully by their new owner!

Ankle ribbing 

Here you can see the diagonal line of decreasing stitches for the toe 

Bouncing Back

Today I wanted to write a bit about some struggles I've been facing recently and how I've been trying to overcome them. Everybody has their own hurdles in life and I find one of the best ways to get over them is by hearing/reading about other peoples experiences, it helps you to realize you are not going through this alone! So sorry for the long post, but it will help me to share this and hopefully it can help someone else too.

Those of you who know me, or have been reading my blog for a while, will know that I've been living in the Netherlands for just over a year now. Arjan and I moved here after he graduated from university to try to make something of our band, the music industry is much better for new bands in the Netherlands than in the UK. We originally planned to live at his parents's house for one or two months, enough time to find jobs and get our own place again. Or so we thought.
We both searched for jobs non-stop at the beginning, focusing on the city Maastricht as we wanted to move there. We assumed that, because of the multi-lingual university situated in the city, there would be english speaking jobs available, either in student bars or facilities near the campus, but after a good time looking and a few visits to recruitment agencies, it became apparent that they were few and far between. Any that were available were true 'professional' jobs and seeing as I dropped out of my university course and have no degree, there weren't any I was suitable for.
Arjan graduated with a degree in song-writing, useful to the progress and successful management of our band, but not to most prospective employers.
There was a lot of disappointment through this time, we were surprised at how much more difficult this process was than we thought it would be and I can't speak for Arjan, but my confidence and determination took a severe beating.

After a while, we decided to focus on the band, we wrote some more songs, booked gigs almost every weekend and worked towards recording a second EP. It was a release to have something else to concentrate on for a while and not have the pressure of job-hunting constantly on my mind. It also gave me an excuse to visit home more regularly than I normally would have been able to. My parents both work full time and my brothers aren't particularly house-trained, so I would go home for a week and give the house a thorough scrubbing, feed everyone and stock the freezers with quick dinners. My mum paid me for the help and I enjoyed being back for a time.

It was very easy to settle in to that kind of life; weekly gigs, blogging, helping Arjan's Oma and trips home tricked me into feeling productive, but in reality we spent most of our days doing nothing.
A couple of years ago I slid into a deep depression, I couldn't attend my classes, I could barely leave the house and I felt like I couldn't talk to my family about it. Earlier in the year, without anything to keep me busy and give me a rhythm, I could feel myself steadily dropping into that horribly familiar feeling. Luckily, my mum and I are closer than we've ever been and since moving here, we have been having great, long phone calls where we can get any troubles off our chests and have a good rant to each other. It's been a real help to me and it's entirely possible that I would have given up and moved back home long before without them.  

A few months ago Arjan was told by a family friend that one of the postal services was looking for local delivery people, so he emailed in and shortly after, was assigned a route through the village. I decided to help him and twice a week we're brought crates of post that we have to organize and then deliver. It's in no way something you could live off of, but it's keeping us busy and giving us a little money. I've also found that having that regularity in my life has made me much less afraid at the prospect of a proper job again.

You've probably noticed that Utrecht has been featuring in a lot of my recent posts, we've been staying with friends there quite regularly over the last few months and have fallen in love with the city, not long ago we resolved to find jobs and move there, so we started the hunt once more. Utrecht is a large city with another big, multi-lingual university and you hear a lot of english speakers on the streets, it's also in close proximity to Amsterdam, so once again we assumed that there would be a lot of english speakings jobs available. Although my dutch has progressed a lot over the last year and I can understand about 60-70% of conversations (when not held at lightening speed), I'm still not great at speaking it, I get confused about what words should go where and I'm embarrassed to try incase I get it wrong (I envy people who will just give it a go no matter how ridiculously wrong they may get it).
We spent days walking around, handing CVs out to anyone with signs in the windows, emailing companies and going to recruitment agencies. But once again, nothing came of it. We didn't let this rattle us though, being in Utrecht and having (temporary) independence reminded us why we were doing it and kept us determined.

One day we were just going to the cash machine down the road from where we were staying and we saw a place with the windows covered and huge posters asking for waiting staff, chefs and kitchen help. I have always loved cooking and have thought about working in a professional kitchen many times so this seemed like the perfect chance.
To my complete surprise I received a reply to my email that wasn't a no! I spoke a bit with the owner of the business and eventually arranged an interview during the time I was next in Utrecht. I am a naturally pessimistic person, so even with an interview I was convinced that it would go horribly or that they would just flat-out reject me for not having previous experience in a kitchen or something like that. I was a nervous wreck on the way there that morning, my heart was in my throat I couldn't eat for the butterflies in my stomach and I had Arjan rehearse over and over what points I should discuss with them. But it went brilliantly! I left with a huge smile on my face and felt almost certain that I had gotten the job. I was told I would need to wait a couple of weeks for a reply and so I did, happily. But a couple of days after the two week mark and I had still had no word from them. I left it a couple more days then sent an email, just enquiring how everything was going and if they had made a decision yet. It took a while to get a reply and when it came, all they said was that there were still a few more interviews and I'd hear after the weekend. But once again I was left waiting for much longer and I started doubting myself.
Then another email came, saying they weren't sure yet what they could give me in hours but would like to call to discuss it later in the week. I was hopeful again, it wasn't a no yet and they were clearly considering me.
But time passed and I sat waiting for a call that never came. Instead I got a final email, apologizing for stringing it out and that I hadn't got the job. In the end it came down to a piece of equipment, a wood-fired oven that they would have in the kitchen and required people with experience to use it.
After such a roller-coaster, I felt deflated and empty. I'd been so sure at the start but it wasn't to be.
I messaged my mum and a few Utrecht friends letting them know what had happened, then after a few minutes of wallowing in sadness I thought about why I'd been looking for a job in the first place and started coming up with a plan B. I asked my friends for suggestions and got straight back into searching the internet for any possibilities.

After a disappointment like this, the most important thing is to find the positives in the situation (cheesy, I know, but it's true). I may not have gotten the job, but it took such a long time to hear back because that whole time they were considering me. My interview went well enough that even though I have no experience in a professional kitchen, they were thinking about hiring me. It doesn't seem like much, but its given me the confidence to go out and try to get more interviews and maybe I won't be quite so nervous next time.
My friends have been brilliant in helping me with this as well, speaking to people who may be hiring, suggesting different possibilities to look into, keeping me positive about everything.

I'm still looking for a job but I'm feeling happier about the whole thing now.

I suppose to summarize this post, what I'm trying to say is: if job-hunting is getting you down, try not to take rejections personally, seek out positive things that you have accomplished and maybe ask for some feedback from interviews (what went well, what could be worked on). Being proactive will keep you positive and a good support network of family and friends to keep your spirits high is best of all.

Babooshka

I meant to do a proper post today, but I've been exhausted all day and only just thought about it now. So instead I will share with you the reason for my sleepiness.

Last night my band, Southern Sunrise, and I played on Radio 538, one of the biggest stations in the Netherlands. We were asked to do 1 minute of one of our own songs and a cover of a song that had been in the top 40 before the year 2000.
We decided to do Kate Bush's Babooshka, she's just started performing again for the first time in 35 years and she is an artist I grew up with, so we figured it would be a fun one to do.
We had a lot of fun and it went really well, but we were on between 12 - 2am so didn't get to bed until 4am, hence the tiredness.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the video of our cover!

Recipe: Autumn Lasagne

Happy September everyone! As I mentioned in a recent post, I've been feeling increasingly autumnal over the past week, I'm really enjoying the cooling weather and pulling clothes out that I haven't worn in months.
On Saturday, Arjan's parent's were both out at a party so it was down to me to come up with dinner for the two of us and what is the first thing you think of when it comes to Autumn food? Pumpkin!
I'd come across this brilliant Autumn Lasagne by The Cozy Apron on Pinterest, combining a pumpkin and garlic sauce, turkey, spinach and sage, and I knew I had to give it a go some time, so this was the perfect opportunity.
I won't write out the full recipe etc here (just follow the link) because I made no changes or alterations (apart from using chicken instead of turkey as I couldn't get it anywhere) and don't really have anything to add at all, it was fantastic!

Beautiful, fat, little pumpkin

Fried chicken mince with sage and italian herbs

Tender, squishy pumpkin after a good roasting 

So much garlic in the sauce, but it becomes wonderfully sweet after being roasted

Look at that lovely, bubbly, cheesy crust

Perfection

This was honestly one of the best lasagnes I've ever made, it was gooey, rich, savory-sweet, chewy with mozzarella and the whole thing was cut through with that strong, metallic spinach. Arjan and I both ate until we could barely move.
I will definitely be making this again in the near future and in the mean time I've got a whole host of autumnal recipes to try out.
Have a look at my recipes board on Pinterest if you need some ideas for seasonal meals.

Nailed It!

I was in the drugstore the other day restocking makeup essentials and I came across a new nail varnish that I'd never seen before, ombre top coat by Catrice! This product claims to give an ombre effect over pale nail varnishes when numerous coats are applied.
There have been so many new developments in nail trends recently; textures, matte, magnetic, and I've never tried any of them. This ombre varnish was pretty cheap though, I think about €2.30, so I decided to put it to the test.

I originally first tried it out a couple of days ago, but then I ended up spending a day doing garden/painting work at Oma's and my purple nails got speckles of green and chips on them.
As well as this little set back, I don't think the colour I chose was light enough for the ombre varnish to really make enough of a difference.

So, onto attempt no.2. I picked out the lightest varnish that I own, a very pale french pink that I've featured before and then began layering on the topcoat. Luckily it is very thin, so it doesn't take long to dry and doesn't end up leaving the nail feeling thick and tacky.

Number of coats L to R: 4, 3, 2, 1 

In the light the varnish is a dark purple

I left the thumb without ombre varnish for comparison. 

This wasn't a bad purchase for something so cheap, it's not a brilliant finish and I've noticed that some little bubbles have appeared on a couple of nails (although I'm not sure if that is the varnish or just because I had my hands in some seriously hot, steamy things when cooking).
I'm interested to see what it would look like over a light green or yellow polish, I wonder if the purple would effect the colour in any way?  
 

Coffee and Cupcakes

Whilst we were in Utrecht the other week, my friend Nikki told me about a new cupcake shop that had recently opened in the area, iBake. At the time they had a voucher available via their Facebook page which offered a free coffee with every cupcake purchased, so naturally we headed over on one rainy afternoon.
Upon arrival I was pleasantly surprised, the shop wasn't just any old cupcake cafe, they sold all kinds of cute and quirky baking paraphernalia; fun shaped molds and cookie cutters, presentation platters, decorating kits, the whole shebang! It took me about 5 minutes to even get to the counter because I was too busy running around saying "Ooh Arjan, look at this! Oh this is even better! Argh I want that!"
Sadly we arrived at a poor time, there were only a couple of cupcake flavours left, chocolate with a vanilla buttercream and (if I remember correctly) vanilla with hazelnut. Both Nikki and I went for the chocolate.
We sat outside under the awning whilst the rain poured on.
The cupcakes were very nicely balanced, the sweetness of the buttercream was not overwhelming when paired with the light, bitter-sweet cake. I would have loved to have tried some of the other flavours advertised on the board; cookies & cream, salted caramel, red velvet. I suppose I'll just have to go back another time!  

Bad Hair Day

I've been dying my hair red consistently for the past 9 months or so, the longest I've had my hair one colour in quite some time. I've tried several different brands of dye throughout this period, all in basically the same shade and I've been happy with most of them. But, as my mother will agree, I suffer from extreme hair boredom. I don't have the guts to try out big changes like drastically different cuts or colours so I make do with subtle dyes.
A couple of weeks ago, I started feeling that same old itch and wanted to try something a little different with my hair. I toyed around with a few ideas and the decision I finally made was that I wanted to try get a little more oomph out of my red. I wasn't quite ready to move on completely,  but I wanted to liven it up a little.
When I was in Utrecht I aired this idea with my friend, Nikki, and she said she'd been thinking about a major change too, going from her natural light auburn to lilac! We figured that the best plan of action would be to bleach and then dye our hair to get the best out of our chosen colours.
After some serious thought we decided we would both take the plunge and have a hair dying day together.

First things first we had to acquire the products. After a short walk we found a hair salon that stocked Directions dye, a brand I had read plenty of good things about and knew was available cheaply online, but when the girl at the desk told us it was €14 a pot, we decided to look elsewhere before making a decision.
Five minutes down the road and we came across a clothes store that stocked Stargazer dye and bleach kits. I'd not read a huge amount about Stargazer but at less than half the price of the Directions we thought it was a safe bet to try it out, so we each bought a bleach kit and a bottle of dye (Rouge for me and Purple for Nikki) and headed home.
Youtube tutorials were the ultimate guidance from this point on. Neither of us had bleached our hair before so we were a little nervous and watched a few videos before even opening the boxes, which was helpful because the instructions in the kit were almost non-existent. We got mixing and helped each other with applying the bleach. It was tricky to work with because of the way the mixture dries out on the hair and having thick hair meant that there were some patches that didn't get as good a coating as others, but I wasn't going for anything more than 'a bit lighter' just to help the red come out brighter so that didn't matter too much to me.
we rinsed it all out after the allotted waiting time and got on with the dye. I started out and quickly realised I would have nowhere near enough, so Arjan hopped on his bike and ran out for another bottle. Then I started helping Nikki, having read up on achieving a pastel hair colour I suggested mixing the colour with a good bit of conditioner, we assumed that this would also make the dye go far enough as Nikki has much thinner hair. We were wrong. Off Arjan went again and brought back more dye.
A bit more waiting and a good rinse brings us to the end of this tale, we both ended up with patchy, multicoloured hair.  I think the problem with my hair was the uneven result of the bleaching and with Nikki's it was a mix of that and the conditioner, on closer inspection I found that Stargazer already has a conditioning agent in it, so it probably prevented enough of the dye getting to the hair.
I didn't actually mind the colour of mine, it was leaning a touch towards the fluorescent side, but it was a fun change. The patchiness though, I could not deal with. I had to wear my hair up every day because there were some very noticeable orangey patches when it was loose.

My hair just before re-dying with the Olia (hence the grossness), you can see the patchy dark/orange bits and just how bright it was! 

Nikki messaged me a couple of days later saying she'd gone and bought a pot of Directions dye and it was much better now, but I decided I couldn't bare waiting for delivery time (having no places nearby that I could get hold of it) and bought a pack of Olia in Intense Red. I've used this numerous times before and always found it came out a little darker than I liked, but with my hair already lightened I figured it was worth a try, plus it's far better for my hair than most of the other permanent dyes available.
I'm back to my usual red again and I'm happy enough, what I actually quite like about this shade now is that because of the bleaching and the other red beneath, there are some little glimmers of brighter red that shine through and make the colour more multidimensional.
I'm pleased that I had my little dalliance with super bright hair and I'll probably try again some time in the future, but for now I'll stick with what I know.

(p.s. this is no reflection on Stargazer products, it is based solely on my experience and it probably would have gone a lot better if I'd had some more practice with these products.)   

Falling For Autumn

This may seem a tad premature to those of you in other parts of the world, considering we're still in August, but here in Limburg the weather has definitely begun to turn. There is a near-constant threat of rain in the air, the temperature has dropped a good few degrees and the days are growing noticeably shorter.
As I type I am sipping a cup of hot tea, wearing leggings, socks, a long sleeve top and yet I'm still considering going upstairs to grab my big, slouchy cardigan that I pulled from the back of my wardrobe recently. Yesterday I even picked up my knitting again for the first time since early this year (a scarf that I might actually be able to wear this winter!).

If someone were to ask me what my favourite season is, I would have a hard time making a choice. Not only because I'm possibly the most indecisive person I know, but because I fall in love with each one all over again when the changes start to occur. Spring is so crisp and fresh and with the promise of new life all around and a new year full of possibilities, it's hard not to love. Summer brings the hot sun, ice-cream, gauzy dresses, the smell of suncream and days spent lounging at the beach. Winter feels like a time for family to me, I am a big Christmas girl and find it going past way too quickly every year. Snow, colourful lights and spiced everything? Yes please!

And Autumn; golden crunchy leaves, a chill in the air, sweaters and warming meals that would have been far too heavy only a few weeks before.
I think a lot of people dislike Autumn, it's the end of summer, blue skies are traded for grey and tans begin to fade. It means going back to school and long days and barbecues become just another happy memory.
But I'm looking forward to it so much. Maybe it's the American in me, but I love the sight of changing leaves, meals packed with pumpkin and root vegetables, and of course, it means that special festive time is just around the corner!

I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest the past couple of days, salivating over stews and roasts, seasonal veg and, of course, all manner of sticky, rich, warming desserts.
Not only does the food seem to get better as the weather cools, but the fashions change as well. I'm not talking latest catwalk trends here, it's that snuggly, layered Autumn uniform of skinny jeans, oversized sweaters, boots and chunky scarves. The clothes worn in that sweet point, where you need some protection from the nip in the air, but you don't yet need to cover up a carefully put-together outfit with a big, heavy coat buttoned up to your nose.

My guess is that we'll have a warm spell again in the next few weeks, one last indian summer, but I'm looking forward to the first frost. There's nothing more magical than waking up to find everything around you enveloped in glistening silver.

What's your favourite thing about Autumn? Is there anything special you do at this time of year that you're looking forward to?

Whistle While You Work

Arjan and I are house/cat sitting for friends in Utrecht again this week which is always so nice. Not only do we get some much needed alone time, but we also get to see our lovely friends Pablo and Nikki. This visit we also get to be useful!
Pablo is in a band, Dewolff, and they own a recording studio where we recently recorded our new EP. This week he is recording songs for two bands and Arjan is helping him out with technical stuff (I won't go into the details, it all sounds like gibberish to me anyway!).
Nikki is a fashion designer with her own label, Satellite June, she makes beautiful tailored pieces and having recently made Pablo suits for both a TV appearance and their wedding, she has had loads of orders coming in from both individual clients and bulk orders for shops.
With the suits piling up and a few other projects that needed working on, Nikki needed an extra pair of hands to help out.
The last bit of textile work I did was probably at the age of 13 in class at secondary school, but we figured it doesn't take too much know-how to pin patterns onto fabric and cut around the edges, so that's what I've been doing!

As someone who wouldn't have the first clue as to how to make a suit, it's amazing (and frankly slightly magical) watching these oddly shaped scraps of fabric get pinned and stitched into full, wearable garments.
Nikki is currently rebranding (having previously been known by her maiden name Nikki Beulen) and has a new website in the works, after this order of suits is done and dusted she'll be on to a new Autumn/Winter collection. I can't wait to see what she comes up with! Keep an eye on this one, she'll be going international before you know it.

MAC Lipstick: Diva

One of the birthday presents I received this year was a new MAC lipstick in Diva. I got my first one at Christmas, from the Rihanna collection, Riri Woo, which is a retro matte finish and I absolutely love it. Because it is so dry it can be a little tricky to apply, but once you've got it on it does last very well.
I knew that when I was to get a new MAC lipstick (and I knew I would eventually, I was sold on them completely) I would want to try the regular matte finish to see the difference in texture and comfort.
So when my sister-in-law was asking for birthday suggests I hinted fairly strongly that a new lipstick would be well received. (I'd ooh-ed and aah-ed over the website so many times and asked Arjan's opinion on them and amazingly he remembered one of my favourites and was able to help his sister with the selection.)

Diva is a wonderful deep burgundy shade in a matte finish that will be perfect for Autumn and winter, we're in Utrecht at the moment and the weather is leaning towards the cooler, wetter side so I thought I could give it a test run.

I think these pictures actually make Diva look a little lighter than it really is 

This is Poes (Puss), we're looking after her right now, we were enjoying a spot of duck-watching

Unlike the retro matte, the matte finish is very creamy to apply and it does have a lot more of a sheen than I was expecting. It definitely isn't as drying as the retro matte, but you still want to make sure your lips are well moisturised before application as it does pick up any flakes. I haven't actually tested its staying power as I did eat lunch shortly after taking these pictures and it needed reapplying but I'm sure given the chance, you would get a good few hours wear out of it.

I am a huge fan of MAC lipsticks now and I know I will get more in the future, I strongly suggest to the few of you out there who have not tried them out to do so, they may well change your view on regular lipstick wearing.

Outfit: Palm Tree Dress

Yesterday we went to the Drielandenpunt and I was wearing one of my favourite purchases of the summer, so I thought I'd do a post about it.

I found this dress in a H&M sale and instantly knew I had to have it. The palm tree print is just the right amount of tropical (without straying into Hawaiian Shirt territory) and the black and white keeps it classic and perfect to pair with a bold lip. I also love the length of this dress, almost every casual dress I own is either a short skirt or maxi, this one falls at a really nice calf length and is perfect for those days when I want to wear something cool but don't want to be completely exposed.
I wanted to wear a bit of jewellery with this outfit, but I couldn't find the pieces I was looking for and everyone was waiting for me, so it's a pretty simple one today.
The sandals were also from H&M but I got them years ago, they are literally glued together because I've worn them a lot, however I think they've done some this year that look almost exactly the same.

Dress - H&M
Sandals - H&M

Drielandenpunt

What do you do when you live in Limburg and have a friend visiting from the UK? Primarily drink lots of beer, but after that you take them to the Drielandenpunt (three lands point), the point where the  Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all converge. Who wouldn't want to be able to say they've been in 3 countries in one day?!
So that's exactly what we did the with the lovely Sam today.

At the Drielandedpunt there are several restaurants and food vendors, two viewing towers, a maze and, coincidentally, the highest point in the Netherlands.
First up we did the maze, which was supposed to take us around 30 - 45 minutes to solve. We decided to make a race of it, Sam went one way, Alex (Arjan's dad) went another and Arjan and I went together down the third route.
We walked that maze to and fro for a good long while, it was very tricky! There were a lot of twists and turns, evil water traps and three bridges that rose up above the maze just to tantalize you with how close you were to the centre.
Arjan and I made it to the middle first after nearly giving up from hunger and bladder fullness, then came Sam, and after no sign of Alex for a while we made our way out to the exit and gave him a call.
We then stopped for a quick refreshing beer before walking the 100m to the actual crossing point.

These passages had little fountains that were triggered by motion sensors, you had to run through before they went off again! 

The pavilion in the centre

Silly mirrors

Congratulations! You found the middle...

Sam was a little jealous that we got there first

"I've got one foot in Germany, one foot in Belgium and my balls in Holland!"

The little green lines in the ground show the borders, left is Germany, Netherlands in the middle, then Belgium on the right 

A quick stroll into Germany

The highest point in the Netherlands....

It was a really fun day out and we got a lot of exercise! If you're ever in the area I would recommend a visit, we never made it up a viewing tower, but the view from the road was beautiful as well.