27/04/2011

Get ready for summer!


Summer is coming closer and closer, but are you ready for this amazing season yet? Here are some tips to prepare yourself for a great summer!

1. Enjoy the first sunny days, because you never know how the rest of the summer will be, especially if you live in a country like The Netherlands. Put on your bikini, don't forget to put on sunscreen, and spend about 10 minutes in the sun. On the next days you can build up and lie in the sun longer, so that you will get a bit of a tan. But watch out that you don't burn because first of all it's not healthy and you don't want to walk around looking like a tomato! Don't forget to treat your skin with some aftersun after a day in the garden or at the beach, even if you haven't burnt.

2. Fill your freezer with ice cream, because you never know when you will be craving some. Of course you can buy magnums and cornetto's, but in summer ice made from water and fruit juice instead of milk is often much more refreshing. It is also healthier, because it does not contain as many calories and fat.

3. Look up the dates of some (free) music festivals in your area, and put them in your agenda. Festivals have a nice atmosphere and are a perfect way of spending a summer day! Even free festivals even have popular artists performing, so you don't need a lot of money. My favourite free festivals are Parkpop in The Hague (in June) and Appelpop in Tiel (in September).

4. Prepare your body for summer. Don't like that bit of fat on your stomach that reminds you of Christmas? Start doing sports now, and you'll already have quite a bit trained off by July. If you don't do any sports yet, running is a good way to improve your condition and lose some weight. I started running about a year ago, and I still go twice a week. I like going running because it not only made me lose about 10 kilo's, it also helps me clear my mind and makes me happy! Don't forget to buy a new bikini and treat your body to a scrub (mix some sea salt with olive oil) to make your skin look nice.

5. Invite all of your friends to a 'start of summer' party in your garden! Prepare some nice finger food (wraps, vegetables with dip, bread, etc.), or, if you're not so good with cooking, ask everybody to bring in a dish. Decorate the garden, put drinks on the table, turn on some music and the party can start!

6. It's time to buy new clothes! You don't want to walk around in your dark-coloured winter clothes in summer, so go shopping and buy some new dresses, skirts and shorts. Don't forget to also buy a bikini or bathing suit, flipflops or sandals and sunglasses.

7. Research your holiday destination. It's always fun to look at what you can do there and decide what you would really like to see. If you're nearly going, you can also make a packing list based on what you want to do on holidays.

8. Not going on holidays this summer? Don't worry, you can have an awesome summer at home as well! It's not very hard to make it fun. All you need is some friends and waterballoons. I'm sure you'll have fun! Or bake some cupcakes with your friends, it'll be fun even if they don't turn out very nice. And there are so many other things to do: go to the beach, the swimmingpool, go on a bike tour to discover parts of your area that you've never seen, go shopping, etc. Do research on what you can do in your area before the summer holidays really start!

9. Put new music on your iPod. Look for happy songs, that fit with summer. Then take your music to the beach or listen to it in the garden. Music that fits your summer mood makes this season even better than it already is!

10. Already know that you'll have big projects to do for school over summer, like me? Try to work on them as much as you can before the holidays, so that you don't have too much left. And when the holidays are there, make sure you work on them at least once or twice a week. I know you need a lot of motivation to do this, but in the end it's rewarding because you'll get a good grade!

Are you looking forward to summer?

26/04/2011

Trollbeads

Have you ever heard of Trollbeads?
Trollbeads is a brand from Denmark that makes some really amazing beads that can be put on necklaces and bracelets. The materials used by the Danish designers to make these beads vary from gold to glass and pearls. These materials are used to make beads with figures, or colourful glass beads.

My mom has had beads from Trollbeads for a few years, and she gave me my first two beads for my birthday this year. One of them is a lamb, the other is a white with blue dots. Here is a picture of the bead with the lamb (I couldn't find a picture of the other bead I got):


I wear my beads on silver necklaces, but of course it's also possible to wear them on a bracelet. You can wear as many different beads as you want on one necklace or bracelet to create a playful effect.

Ever since I got my first 2 trollbeads, I would really like to enlarge my collection! These are some of the beads that I would like to have:

  
 


What do you think of Trollbeads, and which beads are your favourite?

21/04/2011

New stuff

I got some new clothes last weekend but didn't have time to show them to you yet, so here are the pictures =D

First of all my new honeys, a pair of pink-washed Converse All Stars <3


And 3 tops, the left one is from H&M, the middle from Lady Sting and the last one from Zara.



What are your favorite clothes for spring? 

10/04/2011

Inspiration

Here's some fashion inspiration, it's spring so it's time to get some new clothes! :]

 


I adore her glasses, hair colour and blouse!




I love these tights, does anybody know where you can tights like these?




Do I need to say more? :]




Again, I love the tights and also the top she's wearing.





Bring back the colour! Just looking at these bracelets gives me a summer feeling.













This skirt is amazing! Actually the whole outfit is very nice.



I like this bikini. A few weeks ago, I already bought a new bikini, it's a bandeau bikini and it's greenish with white polka dots.



Just a really inspiring picture. I should go look for some adventure!








All the pictures come from weheartit.com

09/04/2011

Cookies!


I baked these cookies yesterday, and they turned out really nice. It was the first time I tried baking cookies with 2 colours, but they look and taste really nice!

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate-vanilla spirals

I got 27 cookies (of which some didn't turn out perfect) out of this recipe, eventhough the book says 36.

Ingredients
225 g butter, soft
115 g fine sugar
325 g flour, plus some extra
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Instructions
1. Prepare 2 baking trays. Mix the butter and sugar untill you have a light mixture. Take half of this mixture and put it in a different bowl, and mix 150 g flour and the cocoa powder through it. Stir the vanilla essence through the other half of the mixture and use a siff to add 175 g flour to this. Make a dough out of both mixtures.
2. Prepare your working area with some flour, so your dough doesn't stick. Rol out both pieces of dough to form rectangles of approximately 20 x 28 cm. Put the chocolate dough on a sheet of baking paper and put the vanilla dough on top of it. Carefully roll up the dough from the long side, using the baking paper as a help. Wrap the dough in the baking paper and leave it in the refridgerator for at least 1 hour, so it can get stiff.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius/gas oven setting 4. Take the dough out of the baking paper and cut slices from it. Put the cookies onto the baking trays and bake them for 10 - 15 minutes, untill they are gold-brownish. Leave the cookies to cool for 2 minutes and then put them on a tray to cool down further.

Enjoy!

I translated this recipe from the book 'Bakken - de beste recepten uit de hele wereld' written by Lisa Scargo.


06/04/2011

Yay!

I really need to start blogging more often.... being busy with school is no excuse because posting something nice does not have to take more than 10 minutes! I will try to start posting something every week from now on. Maybe you could help me by saying what you would like to see on my blog, and what you would like me to write about?

Actually, I have been quite busy with school lately. I am in the middle of my testweek now, but I have a free day! But of course I have to study, because I still have my biology, Spanish and math tests coming up. After that I have a free weekend, so there is no reason for me not to post something nice for you in the weekend.

Last week, I had my Individual Oral Presentation (IOP) in English, which counts for 15% of my final exam grade. I was really dreading it, because presentations are not really my thing. Yesterday I got my grade: 28/30 points! I do not remember what I had exactly for each criteria, because I was so happy that I did not really pay attention to that. I actually started crying in front of my English teacher, how embarrasing is that? My English grade is really important to me, because I want to study English at university and if I want to study it in England I need a 6 or 7 (in IB 7 is the highest you can get) for English. So I am just really happy :]

You'll hear something from me again in the weekend, I promise!