Hello dear readers, I´m back after a long time of not writing on my blog and a lot of stress. This time I will introduce a new kind of post called "What I have been up to lately" and I will try to post this every 1-2 weeks. Since a long time I have been wanting to create this new category of post but never knew what to call it, mostly because there are a lot of bloggers out there who feature this kind of category and I´d hate to be a copycat. But then I came to the conclusion that this is my blog, and the titles you could give such a category are limited so many blogs can have something similar.
What will these kind of posts be about?
Often I feel that in order to write a post, I must have a spectacular or very interesting topic to write about. And let´s face it, 90% of the week or month, nothing really special happens to actually write a big post about. I love to read outfit posts and recipes, reviews and crafts and so on from other bloggers that I thought it was time to write about those things myself as well. Because I know that it are the little, maybe even everyday things that make life count.
So what have I been up to lately ?
This being since I last wrote, the end of April: An awful lot of exam stress.
I did not know one could be that nervous, it was really bad for me and I am so glad that the exam is finally over. It was really hard and I could have done much better but: I passed! We had to draw and sew to measure a ladies jacket for someone we took with us to the exam so that they could fit it in front of the jury. I had the most awful thick fabric and I totally ruined it by ironing, even though I was really careful and used a wet pressing cloth each time. The lapel collar was a kind I had never made. I managed to finish a jacket with the collar, pockets, lining, buttonhole etc. But they said that if it were for the collar, I would have failed and they said I have to practice a lot, which I will. (I will take a picture of the jacket as soon as I can.) Bonus for me: this kind of collar was very popular in the 30s/40. Yesterday I looked at the exam results to see how many passed as well. We had over 30 people in the exam room and only 7 of passed (2 of which are a classmate of mine and myself). I only just made it, which makes me a bit sad because I always used to get good grades. But I must be happy and look towards the future, see this as a lesson and take what I can from this to make things better next time!
I fell in love with a pair of shoes
My parents promised me that if I woud pass, they would let me order a pair of rocket originals shoes from the UK. I heard great things about them and just love the way their shoes look so when I saw a 2nd-hand pair in a size 4 a while ago in a Facebook-group I decided to buy them. Later, the seller discovered it actually was a size 5 but I took the risk anyway. You can probably predict what happened next: the shoes were too big and I was sad. So I sold them to the next person that was interested and studied so that I would pass and get a higher chance of getting the shoes as a gift in my size. Last week I ordered them. Yesterday I was riding my bicycle and when I came back I saw the mail van driving away and I found a note in the mail box that said I could pick my parcel up the next day somewhere in town. So today, I fetched my parcel, opened it and felt in love immediately with the shoes. I have been wearing them for a few hours non-stop. They feel and walk like ´old lady shoes´ but they look so lovely! I will try to sell some things, save some money, and buy more of these in the future.
Talking about shoes, I saw these a while ago when I was walking in Utrecht with my boyfriend. I tried them on, but could not decide if I wanted to buy them or not because I usually do not spend that much on shoes. On our way home we came across the shop and after walking on them a bit, I decided to buy them. They are made by the UK company "Clarks" and I think that every vintage girl will agree with me that this shoe is pretty much a spot-on repro. The heel could have been thicker but the overall style looks very good in my opinion. They are comfy, for heels anyway. After selling things and saving I might buy another pair of these.
Fruit infused water
I have been trying to having a healthier diet and cutting out sweet drinks is very important. I make sure to drink 2 litres of water (including tea) each day, and popping some fruit and mint leaves in the bottle makes the water really tasty. We have a raspberry plant in the garden and each day we harvest dozens of them and then we freeze them for later use.
The "recipe" I use is as follows: Fill a 0,5 litre bottle with a handful of crushed mint leaves, a handful of raspberries and 2 slices of lemon cut in half, squeeze in some lemon juice. Fill up with cool water and some ice cubes. I use the same fruit for 2-3 bottles.
Last week the weather was too hot in my opinion, I can´t really stand hot weather, it always makes me dizzy and tired. Today we had some rain and after that, the sun came out and I decided to take some pictures of the flowers in our garden. That is a good thing about summer, everything is in full bloom!
What have you been up to lately?
With love,
Jip
