Too cool for tv: Twiggy’s Frock exchange

Every tuesdaynight at 9 pm GMT (or 10 Central European time) I am completely glued to the TV: BBC that is!

I absolutely love the new programm that is hosted and presented by former model Twiggy: Twiggy’s Frock Exchange. Ingredients: a bunch of women who bring one of their clothes for swapping, some customizers (ehm, a woman who customizes clothes…see video), some celebrities who donate one of their gorgeous high end items to one of the lucky girls on the show, and Twiggy!!!!

I would love to join in that swapping party, or another cool party that has so many cool outfits up for swap…

superficial tv: next top model programming

I have to write my highly intellectual dissertation paper this semester.

And in order to spoil my brainy mind, I watch some ubersuperficial TV.

I love this season of Holland Next Top Model: I think that the girls are really gorgeous and modeltastic. 

The four girls left remind me a lot of existing models:

Yvette—>Looks a lot like model of the moment Agyness Deyn

 

 

 

I love this girl’s sweet personality: Ananda—>Daria Werbowy

 

 

 

A real Gemma Ward with her aliennesque features: Patricia

 

Normally, Jennifer would look like Chanel Iman, but on this picture she reminds me of MIA.

 

Queensday 2008

Probably the most popular party day of the year, where Dutch people go out in their orange outfit, and celebrate, originally, the birthday of the Queen’s mother….

I love the outfit of Princess Laurentien, the fuschia dress with short sleeves and A-line skirt, with her matching shoes!!! (third picture, feeding animals)

Also Princess Mabel, the one in black and white with her high heels (fourth picture)

“Are you going on a shopping expedition?

So, the last couple of days I was on a cruise to Newcastle. I made some lovely pictures, which I will post on the blog later this week.

 Oh dear, I was seasick on the way to Newcastle…it was awful and I was really happy when the sickness subsided. In Britain, the Customs officer was really jolly, and asked me “are you going on a shopping expedition?”. Teehee, I answered “Yes, does that show on my face?”

Yeh, my sister in law and I were on a shopping expedition. Ofcourse, I guided her to the Primark and bought some lovely shirts and underwear. The Primark was not as hot as in Liverpool, just 2 floors, but it still had some goodies.

New look was wonderful: I bought a florally painters skirt and a bird-dress…quite funky. I passed upon a couple of peeptoe-boots, because the heels were too English (which means incredibly high).

There was not that much time to shop, and I had to ease my pace in order to let the SIL enjoy herself as well (normally, I am the shopping tornado-fast, destructive, and takes what comes in her path).

I was not too happy with handing in the cheque I got from Hope University (my refund for the deposit of the room) because NatWest did not want to give me money for the cheque, unless I had a British account…the bastards! It was a NatWest cheque!!! Ugh…So I have to contact Hope University about that!

 As I said, it was a lovely trip, and I was glad to be in Great Britain again…

weekly read: Make the most of your time on earth

Two weeks ago I bought this book, it was in the middle of January…the weather was gloomy, and the fun times seemed to be far far away.

The best thing I could think to do, was travelling to an highly exotic place. The second best thing, therefore the best thing for my creditcard and budget, was to become a ‘couch-tourist’, aka to travel from your couch by books, pictures and tv shows about travelling.

You have to admit, the title is really catching: How to “Make the most of your time on Earth”. Who would not want to make the most of his/her time on earth? And the front-cover picture…it is a visual orgasm for the winter starved eye: Look at the water and that island, pure bliss.

But, I am not fully a person who judges the book by its cover, and I really liked the content…It gives you 1000 destinations that are ultimate travel experiences…me likey.

So, this week, apart from starting a new trimester again (happy about that), I will be indulging in some “couchtourism” myself. You can find me on page 476, drinking a cocktail.

Cheers.

Lame Sunday

This is one of these sundays that can be uberboring…So, I am going to post some lame pictures with even lamer text (my own)…enjoy  

How to…be as cheap as the Dutch

Finally, I have the inspiration to write down something about one of the strange Dutch stereotypes that we are the Cheapskates of Europe. We are not the only to share this ‘wonderful’ title: in Spain, the Catalan are supposed to be cheap, and in Great Britain, it is the Scottish who hold their title. However, we are a full nation (and not a part of a nation) that is known for this habit…

First I want to accentuate that the next points will be stereotypes, which may be partly true and sometimes still applicable in some parts of the country, however, the city districts are becoming less cheap and adopting a more generous lifestyle. Nevertheless, it is still fun to read some of our ‘tips’ of being cheap.

1. Stamps are not only for postcards:

actually, we sample “zegeltjes” on any occasion to save money or to save for goods, such as coffeecups (Douwe Egberts coffee), discounts, and other products. Some saving methods are so intricate that you have to keep a whole accounting department in order to make sense of all the saving you have to do and calculate all the stamps you need for a coffeemug that would have cost you 2 euro in the store. It will bind the client to a certain shop, in order to get the stamps the consumer wants. I am not sure if it is really a money saving tool, but it sure makes the Dutch look cheap, LOL. More information on http://www.scholieren.com/werkstukken/6811 and here and translation on http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

2. Scrape everything together:

This fantastic tool is typically Dutch: “de flessenlikker” or a “jar licker”, which is used to help you get every last scrap from the bottle of a long jar or a pack of yogurt or “vla”. More cute info over here

3. Compare, compare, compare…

I does not matter if you are doing groceries or shopping for a car…the Dutch compare different prices, turn to consumer’s test magazines, and browse through tons of flyers in order to find the best deal…It makes a great conversation item to say that you saved a lot on your apple Ipod, when you bought it on X instead of Y. It is also a side of competition…if you could find a cheaper deal than your friend, you are the man (or the woman).

4a. Staying in, instead of eating and going out…

Unlike our mediterranean friends, and the rest of the world, we still save on food…we do not go to restaurants a lot, we still cook a lot at home, and…shock, some even bring their own sandwiches to school or work.

 What we save on food and staying in a lot, we splurge on making our home as “gezellig” as possible (which means displaying a lot of stuff).

4b. If eating out…

(Sorry for the cursing man for the people who can understand Dutch, not my video)

Yup, you can take some cheap fried food out of the wall…Other options are eating more fried food in the snackbar, or taking out chinese food (about 10 euro for a big meal)

5. Cycling again, and other forms of transport. We even have bikes to carry all your children, groceries and so on:

and the double decker bike:

6. Markets!!! They are not typically Dutch, but they still matter on saving money. Even the smallest town have a weekly market…

Personally, I am not sure if it is really cheaper, but their slogan used to be “op de markt is uw gulden een daalder waard”, which means “at the market your 1 euro coin is worth 2 euros” or “you get more value for your money at the market”

So, that was my impression of how to save money-or be as cheap- as the Dutch. You can find some more information about our strange habits from an ‘outsider’s’ view in the wonderful book The Undutchables

Scarves and glasses

In Holland we have an expression which sounds like “Clothes make the man” (actually, this is a literal translation).

 

(disclaimer: not my kitty and I would never dress up animals like humans)

Looking around, it seems that the Dutch dress up to be very tedious (boring), because there is a lack of expression and colours on our streets comparing to countries like Italy, Spain, the UK, Morocco, Russia, etc.

So, here is the dose of quirky, expressive assessories I found on the net, and would love to have:

space glasses in gold:

Dare to be square-glasses:

These would look cool on my boyfriend: white space glasses

Not many people in Holland would dare to walk around with these glasses (except in a gaybar):

Ohh, I love fashion like this:

Also scarves:

and more scarves:

+

Colour, that is what we need!!!

Check for yourself if the Dutch designers are going in the right direction: Amsterdam fashion Week is up this week:

Andy Warhol party (very gaybar dragqueen-esque):

(from: http://360fashion.typepad.com/aifw/)

And, to keep in touch with our National Identity: some designers will exhibit their fashion in the Red Light District (seriously). Designers like Bas Kosters, Jan Taminiau, Daryl van Wouw, Edwin Oudshoorn, Roswitha van Rijn and Mada  Gaans will exhibit something the regular visitor of the red light district shun away from: CLOTHES.

More info on : http://www.redlightfashionamsterdam.com/