Sushi Dinner

Today I received a very important email... I graduated university!!!!!! I am so relieved and glad and excited and asdfjkl about it. I basically didn't know what to do with myself today. I phoned my dad in hysterics and he said that we should have a celebratory dinner in honour of this milestone; and if you let me pick the restaurant it will obviously be a sushi place. So here are some of the delicious things I had this evening:




Sigh.. I really love sushi.  Anyways, enjoy your weekend - I have something exciting coming up that I will share with you all and I'll see you soon! xo

Up Close: My Walls

I decided to blog more this month. I am going on holiday in two weeks (eek excitement!) and since the weather has turned down again, I decided to do an 'up close' fragment of my room. I have some other bits and pieces planned out as well so we'll see how far we go with this shall we?

This is one of my walls in my room. Here I have all kinds of bits and bobs collected over the pasts view years, these are basically all kinds of experiences I've had. You can see (moving from the window on the left) three postcards which have quotes from Jane Austen on it. Since I am a huge Austen fan AND saw them when I visited Bath, I couldn't help myself and bought them. The third one down is the same postcard only then with Alice In Wonderland quotes, which is my favourite book of all time. Then we have three posters bought in the country of origin: The Beatles card from Liverpool, Le Chat Noir from Paris and the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna. Below that are some pieces that I either got (Rowena Ravenclaw from my chocolate frog when we visited the HP Studios), Sherlock Baker Street Sign from the Sherlock Museum and a gift from a friend - a drawing for my birthday. I love it so much. On the right you can see another birthday gift - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Below that is the Lucy Rose poster that Louise and I got when we went to her concert (she is lovely!). Below that are all my necklaces, I might have a little obsession...


Then in the middle we have all kinds of things I've gathered through my years of travelling (see the American dollar on the board), when we visited museums, special cards I received when I was living in England, some pictures, my 18th birthday sticker and my two gold medals from when I still did synchronized swimming. I am very proud of those actually! Above the board are just all the things I did when I lived in England. We have a large picture of my and my friends when we visited Warwick Castle and around that all kinds of train tickets and things I've visited during my stay in England. I love looking at them and think of all the beautiful things I've done and seen while studying abroad.


This is the wall opposite my bed. Now, I'm not going to get into detail because I have a story about almost all cards on this wall, but I just love love love this wall in my room. Since each card has a story I just love looking at them and be reminded of all the things I've experiences. The dream catchers on my mirror are all from Native American Reservations while traveling in the USA. They were all made by Native Americans and since I believe in dreaming they keep me sane sometimes (sounds weird but they work for me). The two posters on the right are traditional French Parisian posters which I bought almost 10 years ago at a flea market while visiting Paris.

This is my closet wall. I call it a wall because my room has a really high ceiling so it's pretty big. On my closet wall are posters that keep me inspired. On the high left is a black cat poster. Next to that is a pretty large Escher poster, one of my absolute favourite artists. Beneath the cat poster is the piece that I bought on the book market, it's a piece from a children's book, one I read when I was younger. It's in the same style as many Annie M.G. Schmidt books, the drawing is a typically Fiep Westendorp drawing. It just reminds me so much of my childhood, I just love it. Under the drawing is a Clash poster (one of the teenager obsessions I had) but I just can't throw it away. Next to that are two mini postcards I bought whilst in New York, one is from the New Yorker and the other is a old Vogue cover. They are both vintage postcards. Beneath that is a 'keep calm and drink tea' poster that a friend of mine bought for me one day. I love this variation because I like tea. All the way on the bottom is a picture of Audrey Hepburn - one of my favourite movie stars.
So those are some of my walls! I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my room and some of my stories and I'll see y'all soon :). xo

Being a Big Woman

Picture from here

Today I want to talk about body image. I know that I'm not an expert or a professional but I do think it is an important thing to discuss. Lately I have been hearing to much about body images and it makes me so angry sometimes. I truly believe that our world these days (even over the last decade) is obsessed with skinny women. But like, really skinny women. And I don't understand why. First of all, being skinny does not mean that you're healthy, it doesn't mean that you're better than others and it definitely doesn't mean that you're more beautiful than bigger women. Although these are just plain simple truths, the media keep pushing people to go on a diet and especially celebrities are being pushed "to set an example". And what example is that? That's right, being skinny.

I decided to do some research. I read an article in Psychology magazine called 'Why too big? Why we should stop being obsessed about weight'. The article explains that women who are a little bigger are being bullied by other, intentionally or unintentionally. Because the media sets us with an example, women who don't look like that are not accepted according to the magazine. And I agree. The other day I was in a shop to look for summer stuff for my holiday and they didn't have my size on the rack and the lady who was helping me carefully asked me that maybe I should look at the 'plus size' section. This is so insulting! First of all, I am 1.80 m (5.9") and I weigh 80 kilo (176 pounds). According to the BMI index, I am still perfectly fine on the scale. Maybe a little to the right side (the bigger side shall we say) but perfectly fine. And then some little skinny brat has the nerve to say that to me. I am a size 12/14 people! Anyway, what I am trying to say is that people should stop being so obsessed with being skinny. They seem to forget something that's called a body type. A body type is the types, pear shaped, apple shaped etc. Women have different shapes and they will always have different shapes and sizes. If you a really skinny and small you're okay but if you are a little bigger you are supposed to fit a box that clearly doesn't fit you. And why should we?

Another thing said about bigger women is that they are less happy. I always want to punch people in the face whenever I hear that. I have met bigger women (I am a big woman) and I am perfectly happy. Maybe I am stressed or tired, but that has to do with factors of life (in my case, trying to graduate) and has NOTHING to do with my body weight. I don't even weigh myself that often! I literally haven't met any women that said they're unhappy because they are a little bigger. Most are even proud of it. Stop fitting people in boxes that they (literally) can't fit in and look at their personality. Let's all be kinder to one another shall we? And accept us for who we are. There are of course issues with being a little bigger. According to the Psychology article there are a few factors that indicate that you are too overweight:

1. When people with obesity have an illness related to/because of their weight, like diabetes/sleeping diseases,
2. When they get psychological problems related to their weight, like becoming depressed,
3. They they are unable to perform daily tasks and,
4. When they get high blood pressure, high cholesterol, devious blood sugar or too much belly fat (although all these problems are able to happen to skinny people as well)

All these issues have to do with whether you are eating heathy and taking exercises. With eating healthily, I mean don't only eat McDonalds or too much products with high fats. This doesn't mean you can't eat chocolate or anything you don't want to, just play it safe. Also with exercise, it doesn't mean going to the gym 5 times a week, or doing exercises every day; just try to walk as much as you can, bicycle somewhere if it's not too far and take the stairs. If you can go to the gym that is good but only because of eliminating changed you might get sick (think of heart diseases or high blood pressure). 

Basically what I'm trying to say: be happy with who you are and what you look like. If you have issues with yourself, always check you insides first (emotions, character trades) and then the way you look. You don't have to be skinny to be happy and you definitely don't have to lose weight then others tell you to. It is your life and if you are happy with the way you look, then sod them!

(I would also like to apologise for the rant, sorry) Have a great week!

Sometimes Good Things Happen to People Who are Stressed Out, Very Tired and Cry a lot.

This weekend my friend and I went to the Japanese Garden in the Hague. The sun was shining, the trains were on time and we were excited. It's so lovely to do something totally different sometimes because it keeps you on your toes and get you inspired.

The garden was lovely, a bit small but unfortunately not everything had blossomed yet. However, we did get some beautiful shots and a good walk around. Then we decided to keep the Japanese theme and get some lunch. We went to one of the most delicious Japanese restaurants ever apparently because the food was am-a-zing. We decided to get some sushi and a bento box. I went for the fish box.
Looking at this food makes me oh so hungry again. It was so delicious! We stayed there for quite a long time because we were just enjoying the food and we also found out that they serve Hello Kitty High Teas so we'll definitely go back there, I mean, how cute does that sound?! Then to round off a perfect day, we went to my friend's sister and did yakitori, which was absolutely amazing. I've never had it before but I'm going to try it whenever I can!
How amazing does that look right?! Needless to say, we had an amazing day.
Yesterday some friends and I celebrated Queensday with having a Ghibli marathon and it was just lovely. And then.. suddenly.... when I went to check my email...
I got accepted to the University of Copenhagen to do my Masters degree!!!! How amazing is that. I am still a bit stunned but this gives me so much motivation to do well this semester and just get it over with, because I am going to Copehagen in the fall. I also booked a divine holiday to Portugal this summer so I only have good things to happen. Which is quite a change from a week ago. I am full of motivation and inspiration and let's get on with the last part of my course!