An afternoon in the Zoo.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so we stepped on our bikes and made a trip to the zoo. It's a 13 km ride, which is a lovely one when the sun is out. We crossed through the city and the parks and I find it amazing how much people get out and about when the wheater is so invigorating. We went for a stroll around the zoo, and payed a visit to the Butterflyhall. Amazing as well....

Maybe Life Just Is Amazing!!!!

Back from France!

Wellllllll, we're back!

We had an excellent time! Left at 5:30 AM and arrived at the campsite at lunch. Dull's parents were very happy to see us and so were we to see them.... We unpacked our bags and put the kettle on for some coffee. My brother in law was eyebolling the water as soon as we got there and it only took 15 minutes after arrival before the first man of the family showed up in wadingsuit for some fly-fishing.

Dull had his first go at flyfishing this holiday. He said he liked it, but I guess he liked the relaxing at the watersite more than the fishing itself... To me it's all the same, as long as he has a good time, right? We all had a laugh though, when all the 'boys' were standing in front of the 'girls', waiting anxiously to get permission to go fishing... Of course they only wanted permission for the first go, the rest of the time they just went. There weren't many fish caught this week, guess they were a little too noisy. (the guys, not the fish).

Besides the fishing there was a little shopping, we went to 2 brocante-markets. I was the one to do all the haggling, because I am the only one who can manage with the French language. It was hard, because numbers in French are so much different from the Dutch, but it all worked out. My sis bought a 'new' lamp for her new house, and my Mother in law bought a cheese bell jar. The lamp cost 8 euros and the bell jar 3,5 so I guess I did fine with the bargaining.

We also went to some malls and outletstores. I bought 2 dresses, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of pants, 1 skirt and 3 shirts. Dull bought 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs of pants, 5 shirts, a sweater and a cap... I really like that he loves shopping as much as I do, but it also results in lots of spended money.

But now we are back home, and that feels so good... Even though I have piles of laundry and lots of vacuming and cleaning to do, and I have lots of blogreading to do as well. Good to be back!

Packing our bags.

Only a few hours to go at work, I really am counting down. Woke up this morning with a headache and an aching jaw. So I called the dentist for an appointment.... Juk!

Bags are nearly packed, I do have some ironing to do, but I am saving it for Friday. Tonight my best friend is coming over for diner, she is going to show her BrandnewBoyfriend. I am very, very eager to meet him, always nice to see what's causing all the hapiness I can see in her eyes!

We are leaving early on saturday morning. I love to leave early, you can see the whole world waking up and since it's a 6 hour drive we will arrive around lunchtime, so we have a lovely first day as well. Since this is our RelaxationVacation we are bringing our Nintendo DS (almost every woman in our family got one), books, couple of decks of cards and I am going to bring some beads and my camera, I've got good hope I get time with both.
Dull will be having his first attempt at flyfishing, together with my sisters boyfriend. Dull's father and brother in law (from hís sister) are very passionate about flyfishing, and they have been trying to get him to tag along for ages. So they decided this holiday was going to be perfect for the first time. Since my sister and her boyfriend are coming as well this week, all of the boys will go together. I have no doubt that this will be an excellent opportunity to try my new Kimmiecamera....

Just one more day!

It's not easy being green

I have been reading lots of blogs, just browsing on the WWW. The main issue you come accross these days seems to be all about our environment and the wellbeing of the world. Handmade re-usable totes, recycling crafting ideas, and these 50 ways to help the planet, are all posts about being more conscious about our surroundings. I have been trying to be green for some time now: We recycle glass and paper, we've got energysaverbulbs, I use the clothesdryer less in the summer, always wash at 40degrees Celsius and I have 2 foldable totes in my purse for shopping and groceries.
However, I do notice you can get limited in your effort of being green. For instance: I drive a 16 year old car... but don't have the money to buy a younger one.
If I want to buy (english) books, I find they are much cheaper at Amazon.com than at the local bookstores or Dutch online stores. Even with customduties and shippingcosts. So I fly these books in (sorry, sorry, sorry!). This goes for my beads as well... They are a lot more expensive here, so I order them in the States, or Asia. And as for organic foods, they cost up to 30% more then 'regular' food.
And then for the easygoing benefits: I can get to work on my bike, but find myself getting in my car every morning, towels still go in the dryer, because it keeps them soft and we have never used the train to get anywhere.
Though I know these limitations are based on money and lack of effort, I know I am not the only one who has noticed these limitations. Our government has created a system in which you get 1000 euros if you buy a younger car (built after 2001) in exchange of your old car (which is built between 1990 en 1995). I think this is a good example of getting people going in being green. Saving money is still a bigger issue for humankind then saving nature. So sad, but so true...

Kimmie-Camera!

It was an amazing weekend! Lots of sunshine, Mothersday and off course: The New Kimmie-Camera! I am absolutely thrilled with my new ‘toy.’ I bought the kit and an extra, larger lens. When we got home with all the stuff, I charged the batteries and put everything in our (also new) camera bag. We got our bikes and cycled to a lovely green park at the river. I wanted to make some pictures, but I was a little clumsy-nervous. So I dropped the brand new large lens on the trail. The sunhood and the lenscap were scratched, but the lens was ok. I started crying because of my stupidity and Dull laughed at me. He checked the lens, gave it back to me, called me a little clumsy-cat and cuddled my stressy-worries away… He is so incredible down to earth, it amazes me every time. I get all panicked:
“OMG, I am such a @$#@$#@#$, now it’s damaged, what should I do to fix it, am I insured for this? Can I get it back to the store? And, and, and! Whaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!”
and he’s like:
“Oh well, nothing wrong with it, it’s a shame it got scratched, but it still does what it has to do, so everything is OK! Just be a little more careful next time.” I am glad he can get me down to earth as well like this, it spares me a lot of sleepless nights…

I did take some pictures with my new jewel, but they are not much worth showing here, because it’s mainly cats, hubby and flowers, and I haven’t found out yet how I can work with it the way I want it to work… Next week I will have plenty of time to learn, when we go to France for a total relaxation-vacation before we go to Thailand in June… Last year we didn’t had a vacation at all, because of our marriage, but this year we are setting it al straight! I hope we will have one more vacation in September, but we’ll see… We have a family-weekend in the Ardennes in October, also very nice!

Mothersday was an excellent day. Dull en BIL went to see Feyenoord and Sis and I already went to our parents house. We spent all afternoon in the sun in the backyard, walked all three dogs in the park, when the guys arrived we had a lovely dinner, a game of Scrabble and then we went home. It was a very relaxed day, but we went to sleep far too late, so now I am a bit tired. But maybe I’m just ready for France….

Take a picture...

This last week has been all about comparison. I have been surfing on the net in search of the best Kimmie-camera…. I have read dozens of reviews, learned about lenses, zoom, bokuh (what?) and lots of other stuff.. I went to a store last Saturday to feel some cameras. I weighed them, fit my hand around it, and I even checked myself in the mirror with it…. You have to know how it looks on you, right?
Thursday I figured it all out, it had to be a Sony A300. So I went online (again) to check availability and prices in the nearby area. It was sold out almost everywhere, and I really want to get it this weekend. You know how it goes, once you figured out what you want, you want it NOW, or at least ASAP. I told Dull that it was going to be hard to find a store in our neighbourhood where they would have it for a reasonable price. So, he went online and within 3 minutes he found a store that had the camera on stock, for a low price and at a very reasonable distance from our place…. So tomorrow we are going to buy it. I am not ‘allowed’ to buy it tonight, because he has to work and he wants to do it together… Very sweet but I hope I can sleep tonight, I! Am! That! Excited!

This weekend will also be used for some last vacation-shopping and I wanted to make some skirts and dresses, but still haven’t found the time to start, let alone finish. Perhaps I should have read a little less about Bokeh… and spent some more time at my sewingmachine.

I re-did a silver bangle bracelet for my sister this week, but forgot to take a picture. I also made a sterling bracelet for myself -pics will follow - and I’ll have to make something for mom as well, since it’s Mothersday this Sunday. Mother-in-law is on holiday, so it’s just my mom this weekend. Last year we had a barbeque at my parents, don’t know if the weather is going to allow it this weekend. It’s not cold, but the sun isn’t showing.
That’s it for now! I hope my next post will be filled with some lovely new pics, and I wish you all a lovely weekend!

Weekend Bliss

Weekend is almost over, it was a nice one! Haven't done much creating, but there are many ideas.... I did start off with a dress, but it was a disaster, so I tossed it in the corner. Maybe I will look at it again in a week or so.... I probably have to keep it with pillowcases for now, in canvas or linen. Everything else usually results in ripping (stitches) and pulling (my hair).
I have signed up for my first swap at Swap-bot! It's a created-jewelry swap and the partners will be assigned tomorrow. I find this a bit exciting. Never created anything for someone particular, without talking to the person face to face. We'll just have to see how it goes.

We went shopping for a new camera. I have an Exilim compact camera, which works fine for everyday life. But it's a bit slow and hard to do special photo's. So we're shopping for a DSLR-camera. I am just a beginner when it comes to photography, so the camera has to be suitable for my beginners-eye. We haven't bought anything yet, just listened to some seller-stories and looked on the internet for reviews... When we started off I thought I wanted a Canon 450, but at the end of the day I was most excited about the Sony A300. We're going to give it a good thought and will decide at the end of the week which camera is going home with us....

I am off to do a little laundry, have a lovely last bit of weekend everyone!