The World Looks Red

Dennis Diem & Said Mahrouf AFW 2012

2012-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely time in Ghent for the wedding of my friends Marie and Jonathan. I'll show you some photos soon! Luckily I was back in time to catch Dennis Diem and Said Mahrouf's closing shows of Amsterdam Fashion Week. Dennis Diem's collection was definitely one of my favorites of this season. The designs, the details and the shoes were so very creative and well-crafted.

Said Mahrouf's collection was very romantic and feminine. Dutch actress Jolanda van den Berg closed the show in a beautiful wedding gown. Another piece that I really liked was the gold draped maxi.

(all photos by me)

As you may have noticed I gave my blog a little facelift yesterday. I've had the same layout for as long as I can remember and I thought it was time for something new. And have you already entered my Romwe-giveaway?

Romwe giveaway

2012-01-31T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hola ladies! Last week I had my last day at work for Fashionchick.nl, which means I'll have more time for blogging again. I've really missed reading all of your blogs and I'm looking forward to catching up. Anyway, as a way to celebrate my 'comeback', I whipped up a little giveaway with one of my favorite shops: Romwe!

Two lucky ladies can with a pair of tights and $60 shopping money!

What do you have to do?

Create a Romwe-account (if you don't have one yet)
Leave a comment with the e-mail address that you signed up with
Follow me on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'

On the 14th of February I will randomly pick two winners. Good luck!

Amsterdam Fashion Week F/W 2013

2012-01-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a really long and fun day at Amsterdam Fashion Week! I saw lots of amazing collections, I'll show you my favorites!

This is what I wore!

The Bravoure show was ace, lots of burnt orange, mustard, cream and black. I really feel like that cape should be mine. Loved the hair in this show as well.

Elise Kim's show was beautiful and romantic. Lots of white (which I obviously love) and a lot of great detailing on the garments. Again, lots of contrast in the sleeves, I liked the coats and dresses with mohair detailing.

Nieuw Jurk was fun and bold like only Nieuw Jurk can be.

Melissa Siegrist had a wonderful menswear collection, I especially loved the hairstyling (Fingerwaves on men! Yes!) and the shoes were such a funny detail.

Individuals' show DUALS was dark, grungy and raw. Very Lisbeth Salander.

Ado les Scents by Hyun Yeu was one of my favorite collections. Great suits and coats and I'm really digging the high cuffed trousers. It breaks my heart to think that the majority of men in this world choose to wear shiny jackets, baggy jeans and ugly sneakers when they could look this chic instead. What went wrong there?

L.Go and A-Money on a little break.

My absolute favorite collection was Winde Rienstra's. I don't really have to explain why, do I? Stunning to the very last detail, so wonderfully ethereal. And did you see those cardboard shoes?!

I'm off to Belgium now, my friends Marie and Jonathan are getting married! Unfortunately I'll be missing the rest of Fashion Week but I'll be back on Sunday for one last show.

P.S. of course all the photos are by me, except for the ones that I'm in. If you want to use any of these photos, send an e-mail my way and we'll figure something out.

Modefabriek 2012

2012-01-24T02:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to Modefabriek, a fashion convention where brands show their new collections for fall/winter 2012-2013.

I'm wearing an all H&M outfit with shoes from Esprit and Amanda is rocking Versace, of course.

These Alexander McQueens almost came home with me. But of course they didn't.

Mette is too adorable.

Lucy's awesome mani.

Pretty pastels at Anecdote.

I loved these prints at Mina UK.

I had a very lovely day!

Song of the day: Ladytron - Paco

Candy pastels

2012-01-22T01:31:00.001-08:00

Topshop coat, H&M shirt and shorts, bag c/o Kling and Nelly.com Hildur boots (they are half price now!)

Photos by Daniel

I've been shopping so much in the sale! I'll show you a post soon with all my shoppings.

Daniel and I decided a few months ago that we are going to Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona again in 2012. This week it was confirmed that The Cure are going to play a two hour show there, so I couldn't be more excited!

Song of the day: The Cure - Just Like Heaven

My Swedish TV debut

2012-01-20T01:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, in all the years of running this blog, I don't think I've ever given you the possibility to hear my voice. This week Swedish national tv-channel SVT has the scoop with a segment of me running around Amsterdam, showing you my favorite shops. Watching myself talk and walk and move is one of the most awkward things imaginable sooo I'm pretty mortified but honored at the same time!

Swedes can see the episode on SVT2 today (Friday) at 12:00, tomorrow (Saturday) at 17:50 and Monday at 0:20. And everyone can just go and watch it on SVTplay here. My part starts around the 14th minute. Aaah!

Photo report: Elle Style Awards 2012

2012-01-13T01:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the Elle Style Awards 2012 with my girls Amanda and Mette. The theme was The Roaring Twenties. Dresscodes don't get better than that.

My outfit: vintage dress and Nelly.com shoes

Scheepvaartmuseum (the Maritime Museum) served as a beautiful location!

Some last minute fix-ups before the show starts. Everyone made such an effort. I love dresscodes!

ELLE's editor in chief Cecile Narinx (gorgeous in Gucci!) and Matthijs van Nieuwekerk presented the awards.

Three stylists were nominated for the ELLE H&M Stylist Award. They all presented six looks inspired by a 1920's theme. Maaike Staal had the theme Metropolis. Awesome pieces!

Katia Razgonova's looks were inspired by Speak Easies.

Dineke van den Heuvel's show was very colorful and upbeat, inspired by The Great Gatsby.

After the shows there was an intermezzo with Charleston-dancers. Loved it!

Maaike Staal won the Stylist Awards. Well deserved, I think.

The Personal Style Award went to the gorgeous transgender model Valentijn De Hingh, who looked absolutely stunning in her dress.

Photo of me by Amanda

Beautiful view outside.

Gorgeous David Koppelaar won the bELLE/Beau of the Ball award.

And then it was time to party! The photo above was taken by the girls from Fashionscene.nl. Do you see my camera strap? Expect a DIY tutorial soon!

So glad I could be there! I wish there were 1920's themed parties all the time.

Song of the day: Washboard Rythm Kings - Humming To Myself

7th of January

2012-01-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Dress from American Apparel, shirt with sequined collar from Romwe.

Photos by Daniel

Did you guys see I'm Modcloth Blogger of the Moment? I'm so honored and proud, Modcloth has been one of my favorite shops for as long as I can remember having internet. Thanks so much, Modcloth! Read my interview here.

Song of the day: Memory Tapes - Bicycle

4th of January

2012-01-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

Blazer, shirt and hat from H&M, shorts from Monki and boots fromNelly.com.
Photos by Daniel

It was really fun having our friend David over for the weekend! I haven't been back to Gothenburg for a really long time so I miss my friends there. David was looking for new shoes but he bought skates instead, so I hope for his sake that we will still get some winter weather. It's January and we haven't seen any snow at all. I hope Mother Nature finally realized that winter is useless and we should go straight from fall to spring.

Song of the day: Animal Collective - Chores

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hello 2012! Did you guys have a nice time on New Years Eve? I had a lovely night/morning. Our friend David is visiting from Gothenburg and we invited our other Swedish friend Jonna over for dinner before going to some fun parties.

After dinner we had competitions of who could do the most push-ups or who could do the 'invisible chair' the longest.

David was a real pro at the invisible chair, it was a hell of a struggle but he lasted almost three minutes!

Then we went over to our friend Fanny around midnight and had a lovely party there!

After that we went on to a different party but I don't really have any photo's from there. It was a great start to 2012 and hopefully this year will be filled with lots more fun parties like this!

I was wearing a dress c/o ModCloth. ♥

Song of the day: ABBA - Happy New Year

Christmas weekend

2011-12-31T02:04:00.000-08:00

Miss Patina skirt, H&M shirt, ASOS coat, vintage shoes.

This is what my Christmas weekend looked like! Me and Daniel had a lovely time with my family in the south of Holland. We went out for walks, we ate a lot and we played fun games like 'sjoelen', which is what we're doing here.

I hope you'll all have a lovely end of 2011 and a great start to 2012 and I'll speak to you next year!

Song of the day: Panthar - How Well Can You Swim

DFA2011 (by Yvan Rodic)

2011-12-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Some photo's from Dutch Fashion Awards back in November, by Yvan Rodic. You can find more from that night here!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

Dress c/o ModCloth, coat from ASOS, vintage shoes.

Merry Christmas! Did you all have a nice Christmas Eve? Daniel and I are staying at my parents' this weekend, yesterday we went to this really fun Christmas thingy at a gardening center. Today we have lots of family coming over so I'm looking forward to it a lot. Now it's time for a huge Christmas breakfast. Have a lovely Christmas, lovelies!

Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer - Baby Its Cold Outside

Looking back on 2011: July - August

2011-12-25T01:52:00.000-08:00

In June my friend Clara moved out. Our apartment really became our apartment, so we decided to completely redecorate. This is what it looked like when we started! This was also my outfit for most of June and July.

We bought a new couch that we're still really in love with.

We went to Amsterdam Soul Club and danced to Northern Soul.

Some of my dresses.

Tanya welcomed this little cutie to her home.

August

We went to Sweden to visit Daniel's parents. On this tiny little town on an island we ran into our friends Thomas and Sofia from Gothenburg. Such a coincidence.

We met up with Thomas and Sofia again in Kalmar.

Then we went to Stockholm to work at the Stockholm Pride festival.

We were very intense about our promotion material.

Our friend Josefin from Gothenburg came to visit us in Amsterdam.

Looking back on 2011: april and may

2011-12-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Giving you a bit of an end-of-year summary of what happened on The World Looks Red this year. Here are my favorite photo's from the months april and may.

In April we probably had the best weather we had all year.

This is a little video-compilation of some spring-moments, including Motel Mozaique festival and a weekend away with my parents.

Then in May we went to Barcelona for Primavera festival. Without a doubt this was the highlight of my year. A lovely city with lovely weather, and a lovely festival, a lovely time with my boyfriend, and then of course there was seeing my all-time favorite artist Sufjan Stevens aaand meeting my childhood crush Jarvis Cocker.

The Sufjan Stevens gig was the best one ever! So much fun.

And meeting Jarvis! He was lovely.

That was that! Some more month-summaries will follow in a few days!

Looking back on 2011: january - march

2011-12-18T06:26:00.001-08:00

Let's look back on this year. I always love doing these posts! Here are my favorite outfits, photo's and moments of the year. Click on the photo to go to the blogpost!

January

The year began with great relief in so many ways. Daniel had moved in with me at the end of December and we were so excited to start our life together. However, in December we faced a big shock when we heard Daniel's father had fallen off a ladder and was now fighting for his life. We went to Sweden and luckily everything turned out okay. When we flew back home on the last day of 2010, he was actually doing fine. So 2011 started out great.

At the beginning of January, Daniel landed a great job as manager of the Swedish version of OUTTV. Brilliant! Coming here was such a big risk for Daniel, we were expecting he had to work at a bar or a store for the first few months at least. This job was so much better than we had hoped for.

I had lots of time to blog because Daniel and I both weren't working yet.

My hair was short and black in January. I miss dyeing my hair, but I'm determined to leave my hair alone for a while and grow all the terrible damage out.

February

In February I went to Berlin for a school assignment.

Then Daniel and I went to see Efterklang and Owen Pallett in Utrecht and the Efterklang gig was one of the best I've ever seen.

March

In March Daniel was out touring in Asia so I was a bit lonely. However, the weather was warming up a bit so that made me really happy.

I wore these shoes all the time.

I met this lovely girl named Tanya and now she's one of my best friends.

There was a funfair around the corner from our house and it got me so excited that I wore a bright color for the first and only time on this blog.

I was feeling very spring-y.

At the end of March we went to my favorite themepark: de Efteling!

I'll post april - june in a few days!

Read last year's compilation-posts: january - july 2010 & august - december 2010.

Winnares CosmoGIRL en Nelly shoes actie

2011-12-17T02:52:00.000-08:00

Vandaag mag ik eindelijk de winnares van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie bekendmaken! De locatie was natuurlijk.....

De Gashouder in Amsterdam. Had jij het goed geraden? Isabella Smulders in ieder geval wel! Daarom is zij de gelukkige winnares van een jaar lang gratis Nelly Shoes. Veel plezier ermee, meid! Bedankt CosmoGIRL en Nelly.com voor deze leuke actie.

Vitrine de Ville

2011-12-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Last thursday all my girls from work went out to Vitrine de Ville in Amsterdam's 9 Straatjes-area. It was like a block party, everyone was hanging out in the streets, all the stores were open late, bands were playing in garages and there were art exhibitions everywhere.

Da girls! Ellen, me, Nanna, Mette and Amanda

Mette's boyfriend Merijn Kavelaars makes these really cool paintings.

So much fun!

Hopefully I'll have time to prepare some blogposts this weekend. Last weekend I was visiting my parents for Sinterklaas (Dutch version of Christmas) and the rest of the week it's just been dark and rainy. Blogging in winter is such a challenge, haha!

~~I was wondering if you guys could do me a HUGE favor and fill out this little survey for me?~~ ~~It's only 10 multiple choice questions about fashion blogs: I'm doing a research for school. It's quick, completely anonymous and you'd help me out so much! ♥~~ I have what I need now, thanks to everyone who helped out!

Song of the day: Paul McCartney - We All Stand Together (sorry, this just makes me so happy)

Levi's store opening

2011-12-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

Last thursday we went to the opening of the new Levi's store at Kalverstraat. Everything in this store is made from recycled materials: old wood, old iron, the tables are old doors... Even though I'm not a jeans-person, the store looked really nice.

My awesome Miss Patina blouse. Probably my favorite piece in my closet right now!

Giggles aplenty.

Dutch specialty broodje frikandel (=more or less a meatball sub) with caviar. Awesome-looking snacks at this party!

This dog! Cuteness overload.
Amanda looking like a total babe, of course.

Mr Kurt Elshot looking so very stylish! His furry shirt was his own design.

With two drinks and Mitchel Kelly.

Song of the day: The Rapture - How deep is your love

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes actie - hint 10

2011-12-12T03:24:00.000-08:00

Hier is hij dan, de allerlaatste hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van één van de verstopte schoenen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 10: De battles van The Voice hebben er plaatsgevonden. Rara voor welke deur ligt de Nelly pump?!

Ben jij er eindelijk achter? Vul het in op cosmogirl.nl/win en maak kans op die schoenen! Succes!

CosmoGIRL en Nelly shoes actie - hint 9

2011-12-08T02:56:00.000-08:00

Dit is de één na laatste hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van één van de verstopte schoenen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 9: De locatie is rond, heeft een diameter van 53,8 meter en wordt ook vaak gebruikt voor wakkere feestjes.

Weet jij mijn locatie? Vul het in op cosmogirl.nl/win en maak kans op die schoenen! Succes!

Shoebaloo webshop launch

2011-12-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Last thursday we celebrated the fact that Shoebaloo now has a webshop! Shoebaloo is a designer-shoestore; the kind of place where I pretend I'm rich and try on gorgeous Miu Miu shoes. If you're in Amsterdam, check out their store on PC Hooftstraat; it's all spaceship-like. For now, you can check out their webshop and dream of all the things you'll buy when you finally win the lottery / find a rich husband / make millions with your awesome career / rob a bank (the latter is not recommended).

I was wearing the deer coat from ASOS, the bag c/o Romwe, the shoes from Nelly and the skirt is vintage.

My party-pal Amanda was wearing crazy shoes from Jeffrey Campbell! They're so ugly but I love them on her.

Renee and Anna being interviewed for TV. Everyone was asked a couple of questions about shoes.

A smiley mr Mitchel Kelly.

Aaand of course the night ended by us being kindly asked to leave the premises because they are closing. Story of my life.

Song of the day: Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit

5th of December

2011-12-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

Coat from ASOS, bag from Kling, vintage sweater and hat from Monki.

I got my coat in from ASOS! I love it, it's so warm and it really seems to be a conversation-starter. I also got some new stuff from Kling that I'm really in love with, I'll show you soon.

For the Dutchies, here is the 8th hint for the location of the hidden Nelly Shoes that I'm giving away with CosmoGIRL!: De pump ligt op steenworpafstand van een bijzonder fashionable locatie.

Weet jij al waar de pump verstopt is? Vul je antwoord in op cosmogirl.nl/win!

Song of the day: Panda Bear - Take Pills

November randoms

2011-12-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

Like I said, I went to M83 and it rocked.

A while ago I went to a party to celebrate independent designer Frenchonista. Frenchonista is the lovely Samia Taika and she makes really nice clutches. Great, because it can be so hard to find the perfect clutch! We all got together at Samia's house and had a cosy girls' night. How cute were these cupcakes-on-a-stick!?

What I like about the clutches is that they are all really simple and classic, but really great quality. They are all handmade in high quality leather. Check out the website!

Frenchonista girls!

The next day I went to a lovely party thatNelly.com threw. Lots of pretty shoes everywhere! I swear, I buy a new pair of Nelly shoes almost every week. So cheap, so awesome, so comfortable.

With my lovely Amanda.

Last friday was a time for anniversaries. First and foremost, Daniel and I celebrated being together for 3 years! We went out for a lovely dinner together. I'm so happy that I've had him in my life for over three years now and that we love each other as much as we do.

But before dinner NSMBL celebrated their half year anniversary. Had lots of fun with all my girls! I can't believe how fast NSMBL has grown, but it's totally understandable when you think about what a cool website it is.

Can you spot me in the video? Haha.

Photo's by me, Daniel, NSMBL and Frenchonista. Video by Roland Pupupin.

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes actie - hint 7

2011-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dit is de zevende hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van één van de verstopte schoenen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 7: Het gebouw waar deze schoen ligt, werd 109 jaar geleden gebouwd.

Weet jij het antwoord al? Vul het in op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

30th of November

2011-11-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

Dress from Pepe Jeans, vintage faux fur, shoes from Esprit.

Photos by Daniel

I can't believe it'll be December tomorrow! I've been really quite busy lately in a way that I'm working full time, and after work I'm either working some more, or doing really fun things! I wish it would leave me more time for blogging.

Anyway, there's a post coming up soon with lots of pictures from fun events and stuff. Yesterday I went to see M83 at Melkweg, which was freakin' amazing. I was a bit embarrassed by the crowd, because you could really tell that 80% was only there to hear his radio hit Midnight City. Some people actually left after he played it. STILL THOUGH. Amazing show. I also kind of wish he would have played my favorite off the new album which is this one. But still. Amazing times. Love M83.

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes actie - hint 6

2011-11-28T01:05:00.001-08:00

We zijn over de helft! Dit is de zesde hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van één van de verstopte schoenen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 6: Marco Borsato en Anouk gaven in 2010 grote live concerten vlakbij de plek waar deze schoen verstopt is!

Dat brengt jullie vast weer een stapje dichterbij! Weet jij het antwoord? Vul het in op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

27th of November

2011-11-27T04:35:00.000-08:00

Coat, sweater and skirt from H&M, shoes from Deichmann and bag from Romwe.

Photos by Daniel

This week I finally went and bought lots of winter clothes. Bought a couple of sweaters and cardigans, so that makes it a lot easier to get dressed in the morning.

Yesterday I had a bit of a movie-night, I watched my all time favorite music-film Heima. I'll never get tired of watching this movie: breathtaking Iceland with the most magical music you can imagine.

I was gonna post the whole thing in Youtube-clips, but just get the movie and watch it. I mean it. Later we watched Midnight in Paris. Definitely a movie I'd recommend as well!

CosmoGIRL! en Nelly shoes actie - hint 5

2011-11-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

Hier komt hint nummertje vijf van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van één van de verstopte schoenen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 5: Stel: je staat met je gezicht voor de plattegrond van deze stad, dan moet je links bovenaan zijn.

Dat moet jullie toch aardig op weg helpen. Hebben jullie al een idee van wat het kan zijn? Vul je antwoord in op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

Ordered at ASOS

2011-11-23T09:50:00.002-08:00

Look what I ordered from ASOS.com! I'm so excited! It was on sale for half price (more or less), so what's a girl to do?

22nd of November

2011-11-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Gorilla-coat from H&M, sweater from Zara, Primark shorts, Cafe Moda python flats.

I love this coat! It's really really warm, exactly what I need right now. Today I'm wearing thermo-tights over a normal pair of tights, and it's not even snowing yet. So depressing to think it will get about 20 degrees colder than it already is. I'm so bad at dealing with winter!

How are you guys doing?

Song of the day: Loney Dear - Violent

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes hint 4

2011-11-20T23:56:00.001-08:00

Hier komt alweer de vierde hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van de verstopte schoen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 4: Dramastem. Dit gaat niet over een slechte auditie van een talentenjacht... Het is een anagram!

Hebben jullie al een idee van wat het kan zijn? Vul je antwoord in op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

Fashionchick's perfect heels

2011-11-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, besides my blog I also write for Fashionchick.nl. On wednesday we were all very excited because we were finally gonna launch the shoe-line that our very own Ellen designed. We were at a perfect location at Bakkerswinkel in Westerpark, where some people were invited to come celebrate our lovely new shoes! Here are my photo's.

Here I'm wearing the nude attitude color, which is the pair I took home with me. Aren't they adorable? You can order them over at Hype Bazaar for €59 and they're also available in black and bright blue.

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes hint 3

2011-11-17T02:45:00.000-08:00

Hier komt alweer de derde hint van mijn CosmoGIRL enNelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van de verstopte schoen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 3: Nagellakmerk OPI vernoemde een nagellakkleurtje naar deze stad in de Holland-collectie.

Hebben jullie al een idee van wat het kan zijn? Vul je antwoord in op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

Sacha Bloggers Breakfast

2011-11-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

On monday me and some other bloggers made our way to the Sacha Shoes flagship store in Utrecht. There we were treated to a lovely breakfast, make-up by MAC and shoes, shoes, shoes.

I love these shoes and I soooo want them! (Santa, take note)

A yummy breakfast!

The very pretty Lara Rose.

Lara Rose, me and Robine. So funny, I've known Robine over the internet for about 5 years, but somehow we never met in real life before this!

Photos by me and Team Peter Stigter

This week we watched a great documentary about Robyn. I love her, she is so much more talented than people give her credit for. I do love myself a good popsong.

Song of the day: Robyn - Hang With Me

CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes actie pt 2

2011-11-14T00:35:00.001-08:00

Oké dames, hier komt de tweede hint van mijn CosmoGIRL en Nelly Shoes actie. Ik en vier andere lovely blogger ladies hebben ieder een schoen verstopt op een geheime locatie in Nederland. Als je de juiste locatie van de verstopte schoen raadt, maak je kans op een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes! We geven alle vijf een prijs aan degene die onze locatie raadt. Je maakt dus 5x kans!

Hint 2: In deze plaats zijn bijna 100 keer zoveel fietsen als winkels!

Remember: je moet je antwoord invullen op cosmogirl.nl/win! Succes!

11-11-11 and randoms

2011-11-12T02:20:00.000-08:00

Long time followers of this blog already know what I giant spazz I am when it comes to anything Owen Pallett related, so you can imagine my excitement when I found this in my Twitter inbox yesterday:

Owen was gonna play his album Heartland in a church in Eindhoven with a big orchestra, so I had to rush straight from work to get there in time but it was so worth it! Amazing! I've seen Owen play lots of times and it's always been amazing, but Heartland really came to life with this orchestra!

And then suddenly I was in a church in my giant gorilla-coat. After the gig there was a screening of Sigur Ros' new live-film INNI, which was pretty incredible, as long as you see it loud and preferably in a church like I did, haha.

Ok, it's been a while since I did a post with randoms from my phone and other things that never really make it to the blog, so I decided to throw that in as well!

Amanda and I at work, readyyyy for Dutch Fashion Awards 2011!

Tanya's little Edwin in croissant-mode.

I got new shoes! Flats, for once!

I scored a brand new AA-dress and a floortom at IJ-hallen market last weekend.

I went to lots of press-days. I love this pink camera from Nikon! I think I might need it.

And then there were more S/S 2012 pressdays! This last photo is by Anna.

Sooo that's what I've been up to the past week and a half. What are your plans for the weekend?

Song of the day: Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Action

Win een jaar lang gratis Nelly Shoes!

2011-11-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Dames, dames, even opletten. Een jaar lang gratisNelly Shoes. Heb ik jullie aandacht? Mooi.

Vanaf vandaag gaat er een leuke actie met CosmoGIRL! van start, waar ik en vier andere Nederlandse bloggers 'n hele mooie prijs weg mogen geven.

Renée, Billie-Rose, Sietske, Brenda en ik verstoppen alle vijf 'n paar pumps ergens in Nederland. Hier op m'n blog ga ik twee keer per week (op maandag en op donderdag) een hint geven over de locatie van de pump. In totaal geef ik tien hints. Als jij een idee hebt van wat de locatie zou kunnen zijn, ga je naar cosmogirl.nl en vul je daar je antwoord in. Alle vijf de bloggers geven een jaar lang gratis schoenen weg aan degene die hun locatie raadt! Dat wil zeggen: een jaar lang iedere maand één paar Nelly Shoes! Oh me, oh my!

Okay ladies, hier komt hint nummer 1: De provincie waar deze verstopplek is heeft sinds 22 februari 2000 een eigen volkslied.

Remember: je moet je antwoord invullen op deze pagina van CosmoGIRL, niet op mijn blog! De reacties hier worden niet meegeteld. En nu: succes!

(raar, trouwens, om in 't Nederlands te bloggen...)

8th of November

2011-11-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

Coat from Primark Kids, blouse from Miss Patina, shoes from Nelly.com, vintage bag.

Photos by Daniel

This weekend there was a giant American Apparel warehouse sale around the corner from where I live. It was huuuge!

Today my Romwe-giveaway ended. I'm happy to announce that the winners are Brenda and Lubna! $80 of Romwe freebies are coming your way to the e-mail address that you used to register on Romwe!

Song of the day: CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above

Dutch Fashion Awards

2011-11-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterdaynight I was in The Hague to visit the Dutch Fashion Awards 2011. It was held in a big church, it was so beautiful!

My friend Amanda was sparkly to the max, as always!

The show featured collections by last year's winner Iris van Herpen, and of course by 2011's nominees Erik Frenken (Avelon), Joline Jolink, Conny Groenewegen, Hyun Yeu (Ado Les Scents) and Marcha Hüskes.

Conny Groenewegen was the big winner of the evening with her futuristic-yet-classic knitwear label CG! Well deserved, I say.

I ended the evening in style by hitching a ride back to Amsterdam with very friendly strangers and had a post-midnight snackbar visit with the lovely Yvan, after we failed to find ANY bar that's open after 3:30 AM on a friday night. In the center of Amsterdam.

Well, it was a really fun night! Thanks UPR for inviting me!

Song of the day: Lykke Li - Get Some

3rd of November

2011-11-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is the Supertrash dress I bought from my Fashioncheque! I think it'll be perfect for the holidays. The holidays are starting to feel so near now that it's getting dark so early! And in my street the Christmas-lights are already up. I'm pretty sure it gets earlier each and every year. Oh yeah, my shoes are fromNelly.com . I love them so much.

Remember, there's still a couple of days left to enter my Romwe giveaway!

Song of the day: Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine

Palace

2011-11-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

My dress is from Miss Patina and my shoes are vintage.

Photos by Daniel.

I'm invited to go to the Dutch Fashion Awards on friday! Quite excited about that! I wonder what I'm going to wear...

Did you all have a nice Halloween? I ended up not really celebrating it because I was busy and I didn't have time to finish a costume.

Song of the day: The Middle East - Blood

30th of October

2011-10-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

On thursday I was very very very surprised when Dutch top-stylist Danie Bles chose me as best dressed Fashionista at the launch of her Winter 2011/2012 Styleguide. I won a €500 Fashioncheque! Wow?!

Honestly, I overslept that morning and I got ready in 10 minutes, throwing on one of my trusty Miss Patina dresses and going out the door with greasy hair and sloppy make-up. It's a huge ego-boost if a successful stylist like Danie picks you over lots and lots of other girls lovely-looking, especially when you're in such a state. She said my style was really 'me' and I mixed and matched highstreet, vintage and indie designer well.

Fashioncheque is a giftcard that you can spend at a select amount of stores in Holland. So I get to spend €500 at all kinds of expensive-type stores, which is really exciting, cause I thought: YOU GUYS, I'LL GET PROPER PRADA STUFF AND SUCH. But I must say: as a true budget-shopper, it even hurts to spend free money on expensive things. High-end designer fashion just pisses me off. Yesterday Tanya and I tried shopping at designer stores, we just came out going: €1200 FOR A BLOUSE? PEOPLE IN AFRICA ARE STARVING TO DEATH AND PEOPLE ARE SPENDING €1200 ON A BLOUSE?! It's outrageous.

We quickly decided designer wasn't the way forward, so now I bought a really beautiful €100 dress from Supertrash (which, turns out, is not trashy at all! Misleading advertising!). I'll show you the dress later. €400 more to go!

Did you guys have a nice weekend? Any Halloween-parties going on? Remember to enter my Romwe-giveaway in the previous post!

Song of the day: The Ruby Suns - Tane Mahuta

Romwe Giveaway

2011-10-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

I've been working with Romwe as my sponsor for a really long time now, and we thought it was time to give something to you guys as well! That why we're pairing up to give away $80 of shopping money to two of you lovely gals.

Romwe has everything from dresses to shoes and coats and accessories; all in a wide variety of styles. I love that they have really cutesy peter-pan collar dresses, as well as that classy city-chic look.

For those who can't wait to shop, here's some discount codes!

Use StreetFashion1 on purchases over $50, and get $10 discount.

With StreetFashion2 you get $20 off when you spend more than $100. You can use these two until 11/31/2011

To celebrate Halloween you get 20% discount when you use HLW20 (up to 11/30/2011)

and all new members get 20% off their first purchase when they use the code 20%off.

Well, who wants to win $80? You do, of course. Here's how:

~~Make sure you're following my blog (either on GFC or Bloglovin)~~
~~create a Romwe-account (don't worry, they don't spam or anything)~~
~~leave the e-mail address you used to sign up right here in the comments.~~

On the 8th of November I will randomly choose two winners who will receive $80 each! Good luck, ladies!

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

24th of October

2011-10-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Blouse and skirt from Miss Patina.

I very rarely wear an outfit exactly like I've seen on a shop's website, but how perfect do this blouse and skirt from Miss Patina go together? I've been looking for a blouse like this forever and I'm so happy with it. The ribbon is detachable as well, so you can wear it with basically anything. Be prepared to see this blouse a lot on this blog, haha.

Thank you all for your sweet comments on our home! We're happy you like it as much as we do!

Song of the day: M83 - New Map

Our home

2011-10-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, well. Here it finally is! Our home! We're (nearly) finished and we're really happy with how it turned out. My favorite is the poster I made of the place where we met. And our painted fridge I told you about earlier!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Song of the day: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Home

Sale at Nelly.com

2011-10-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Remember my favorite shoes? They are on sale now atNelly.com for only 20€! My size is sold out, otherwise I would've bought an extra pair right away. There's a lot more sale going on, so this morning I bought two more pairs of shoes. This one and this one.
For the Dutchies: Je kunt vanaf vandaag opNelly.com ook met iDeal betalen. Superhandig!

XOXO Gossip Girl

2011-10-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm wearing a coat, faux fur, and feather headband from H&M, a vintage skirt over a Indiska dress and Timeless brogues fromNelly.com
Photos by Daniel.

I feel a bit like I should be on Gossip Girl with this outfit, haha! It's getting really cold outside now and I love wintercoats and faux fur collars. That and Christmas are the only reasons I get excited about winter.

This weekend we finally fixed the last things in the apartment. Its so nice that it's done now and it feels so much more like our home. This weekend I'll post some pictures of the apartment as you guys requested, so stay tuned for that!

Today I took the day off work and I had a lovely Swedish camera-crew over for an exciting TV-interview, which I'll tell you more about later!

Song of the day: 65daysofstatic - Mountainhead

15th of October

2011-10-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

Coat from KLING, top and skirt from H&M, heels fromNelly.com

Photos by Daniel

You guys! We finally have a BOSS RC-50 loop station! I'm such a happy bunny. Someone actually found me whining on my blog that I wanted one and he contacted me to sell his. Thanks, Chris! We've been playing with it a lot since we got it yesterday and we've been creating tons of cool things. Hope to be able to show you some things soon. We can make the two of us sound like a full postrockband or like, I can sing over and over and over myself to create a choir of a 100 Laura's! Best toy ever.

Today we're working on many exciting projects, for example we painted our fridge green (!). I think we're finally going to finish some of those last things in our apartment that have been bothering us for months. Paint some last things, put up some frames and posters and other things to make the apartment more of a home.

What are you guys up to this weekend?

Song of the day: Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz (also known in my book as one of the most awesome songs of all time.)

Anecdote press breakfast

2011-10-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Super-cutie Anna.

Top from Vero Moda, skirt from H&M, shoes fromNelly.com.

Photos by me / photos of me by Roos.

This morning I went to a collection presentation breakfast for Dutch knitwear label Anecdote. The showroom was such a beautiful place! Jet, the designer, was adorable and told so passionately about the label. Anecdote makes lovely knitwear that you can wear on any occasion! Every item comes with a little story on the tag which makes it really sweet and personal.

On Sunday me and my colleagues Ellen, Marlies and Elize went shopping in outlet-village Bataviastad. We got to shop for €100 each! I bought this blouse and I'm sooo happy with it. I also bought a pair of shoes that I'll show you later.

Okay, now I'm going to watch the new episode of How I Met Your Mother! Have a lovely evening/day/morning/whatever it is when you read this!

Here We Go Magic - Only Pieces

9th of October

2011-10-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Shoes and dress fromNelly.com

Remember the other week when I said I got to shop at Nelly.com? Here are a couple of things I bought! A supercute dress and my new favorite shoes. I got these babies on Tuesday and I've been wearing them every day since. I was very pleasantly surprised by comfortable they are! I've become such a pro at walking in them and I love life as a tall girl.

Nelly.com is a Swedish online store that sells awesome shoes, clothes, cosmetics and more. I really love their own shoe-line. Right now they ship to several countries in Europe so go have a look. You can find the shoeshere. At only €40 they're a steal, really.

Song of the day: Belle & Sebastian - Funny Little Frog

Birds!Birds!Birds!fest

2011-10-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Daniel had to play a solo gig at a festival in the south of Holland. We had a lovely time with lots of friends from Belgium and other places.

Thanks Birds!Birds!Birds!fest! We were so lucky that it was the very very last day of nice weather this year. The weather basically made a total 180 after Sunday. It's so cold I'm thinking of starting on the double layer tights thing already. So depressing.

Lots of fun things at work this week. I have an exciting and busy weekend ahead: tonight our website is hosting a party at a club, tomorrow I'm going fleamarket-shopping and on Sunday we're going on a free shopping spree at an outlet center with some girls from work!

4th of October

2011-10-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

On me: brandless dress, Topshop shoes, H&M belt.
On Daniel: Cheap Monday jeans, H&M shoes and shirt.

We had a great weekend. We traveled all the way to the other side of the country cause Daniel was playing a gig at a festival. It was so lovely. I'll post about that later this week!

Last week the weather was just amazing. Better than we've had all summer. I'm glad we still got some sun, so on saturday we went for a walk and had a lovely time.

Song of the day: Loney Dear - Violent

Katharina Reckendorfer

2011-10-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

These are the photo's from the shoot with Katharina Reckendorfer I was talking about earlier. She great!

27th of September

2011-09-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Top from H&M, skirt from Primark.

Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my last post! Our date night on Sunday was really nice. I loved Melancholia. A bit depressing and unnerving but that made it really great. Kirsten was brilliant and the cinematography was amazing.

I'm home sick today (these photos are from the weekend, I don't actually look like this when I'm sick, don't worry) but my day got a lot better when I got to shop at one of my fave webshops: Nelly.com! More on that later.

Song of the day: Beach House - Zebra

Schoolgirl style

2011-09-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sweater, necklace and top from Primark, skirt from H&M, shoes from Romwe
photos by Daniel

Soon I've already been at work for a month! It's loads of fun and time flies by. A bit too fast, might I add! Weekends are suddenly so valuable and I'm sitting here on the couch again, realizing it's already sundaynight. It's quite hard juggling two jobs and a blog, so I'm sorry I'm not as active as I'd like to be. I'll try harder!

Funny thing happened at work the other day: I was writing an article on '90s fashion (I know) and I wanted a picture of Sonic Youth in the 90's, so I went on Google Images and searched for: "Sonic Youth 90s" and like the 7th photo that came up was MA OWN FACE. Apparently at some point I mentioned Sonic Youth and the 90s in one blogpost. Flattered.

Anyway, hope you are all well and having a good weekend. Me and Daniel are gonna go see Melancholia tonight, which is a bit exciting. They recorded parts of it near Gothenburg last summer when I was living there. So our town turned into little Hollywood for a couple of weeks and it seemed like every one of my friends had their own special story about a Kiki Dunst or Kiefer Sutherland sighting. Those were the days. Can't wait to finally see the result.

Song of the day: Here We Go Magic - Fangela

18th of September (Daniel's birthday!)

2011-09-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Vintage leather bag / coat, hat and pants from H&M

photos by Daniel

You guys! I'm wearing pants! I bought these at H&M, thinking I'd sew them into shorts, but I actually really like 'em. There's a first for everything, I guess.

Yesterday I went to a fleamarket and I bought lots of great things! Later Daniel and I went into town and I bought a new lens for my camera: a 24mm /2.8. I'm really happy with it! That last photo of Daniel was taken with it.

Today it's Daniel's birthday! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Song of the day: Wannadies - You and me song

Lemon dress

2011-09-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Dress from Primark, vintage bag, wedges from Kling.

Photos by Daniel

Weekend! We have a super-fun plans. Tomorrow I'm going to a fleamarket, then it's my friend Rosa's birthday, later we're going to the Soulclub. At midnight it'll be Daniel's 30th birthday so on Sunday we're going glow in the dark minigolfing! Yeah. Then later that day my parents and brother will come by for Daniel's birthday aaaaand then it'll be monday again. Phew.

Song of the day (one of my all-time favorites, never fails to make my happy)

// The Cardigans - Lovefool

1972

2011-09-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sarah Moon for the Pirelli calendar of 1972. So inspiring.

10th of September

2011-09-10T05:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a photoshoot with the lovely Katharina Reckendorfer from Austria. She uses the most awesome analog camera's and she's really talented. I can't wait to see the end result. Check out her work, like her beautiful shoot with Siri from Ringo, Have a Banana! These 'behind the scenes' shots were taken by Daniel.

Faced a big disappointment last week when we wanted to go out and buy a BOSS RC-50 loop station and literally filled out all the forms for the payment plan and then the guy went: Oops, we sold the last one a couple of days ago. And then we found out that BOSS doesn't make the RC-50 anymore because some part of it was made in a factory in Japan that got destroyed in the tsunami/earthquake earlier this year. SAD TIMES. So yeah, if anyone wants to get rid of theirs? Haha.

Song of the day: Tune-Yards - Bizness

6th of September

2011-09-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dress from Danity, photo by Daniel.

I've started my internship! It's really nice. Quite refreshing to have a 9-5 life, it feels like you're getting so much more out of the day. I'd almost forgotten there was more to life than Youtubing cat video's.

Fashionchick.nl is a Dutch interactive online shopping platform where items from several webshops are gathered in one place. It makes it so easy to shop online because you don't have to go to every single website separately. We also have lots of articles on trends, fashion tips, beauty etc. On my first day at work I wrote a little article to introduce myself and my style, you can check it out here (it's in Dutch, though!).

Song of the day: Loney Dear - I Was Only Going Out

31st of August

2011-08-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

H&M skirt, Primark top, Deichmann boots.

Tomorrow I start my internship at Fashionchick.nl! I think it'll be loads of fun, even though I'm a bit sad that the summer holiday is over. I was kind of hoping for some more nice time in the sun, but it was rainy and depressing all around. Suckiest holiday in 22 years. At least I got a lot of work done in my apartment, which I still reeaally want to show you but I want everything to be perfect first.

I had a perfect song in mind for my song of the day, but I see it's not on Youtube, but people on Spotify can still enjoy it. It's Peter Broderick's version of this song:

Efterklang - Harmonics

Both versions are amazing, of course.

29th of August

2011-08-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

If you could only eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Or if you could only listen to one song?

And one movie? You don't have to watch it every day, it's just that all other movies would disappear.

My choices would be falafel, cause it's extra yummy and it has a lot of important nutrients.

My song would be The Shins - New Slang

And of course The Dark Crystal.

What would your choices be?

22nd of August

2011-08-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

I just noticed this will be my 500th post! Wow. I wish I'd known so I could have done something a bit more special. I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading any of those 500 posts and saying such lovely things. It means so much to me.

Lately it feels like my biggest luck in thrifting is finding secondhand H&M dresses that I missed out on buying when they were in store. Here is another one I found this weekend! I love love love it.

I got a lot of questions about the dress in my last post, and I'm sorry to say it's vintage!

Song of the day: Beirut - East Harlem

21st of August

2011-08-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend our friend Josefin from Gothenburg is visiting! It's fun to go sightseeing with a friend because then you see things in the city that you've never seen before.

14th of August

2011-08-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

This weekend we are visiting my parents and today we went to a park that I used to love when I was little. I hadn't been there in at least 12 years so it was fun to be back and realize that it was much much crappier than I remembered.

Song of the day: Hot Chip - Out At The Pictures

Stockholm Pride

2011-08-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Stockholm! I had a really good time working at the Gay Pride. Thanks everyone who stopped by our OUTTV stand, I've heard so many happy and sad stories from brave and beautiful people from all over the world. Gay rights are such an unquestionable thing to me and it hurts to know that there are still places in the world where you are not allowed to be with the person you love, where you can't be who you really are, in fear of social isolation, assault, imprisonment or even death. But luckily we can celebrate the fact that in Sweden you can be yourself and marry the one you love!

♥♥♥♥♥

We got a bit too creative with our stickers after a while.

This is our biggest fan, Leith. He came by several times a day to take pictures with us.

More of my photos of the Pride Parade can be found over at the OUTTV Facebook page.

Undeniable anthem of the week: Lady Gaga - Born This Way

4th of August

2011-08-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Dress from Indiska // Photos by Daniel.

For my readers in Stockholm: Daniel and I will be working at the OUTTV stand several hours a day at Gay Pride in Kungsträdgården, so drop by if you want! If I'm not there at least there will be free candy and pens.

Song of the day: Sufjan Stevens - All For Myself

1st of August

2011-08-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! It's actual summer weather in Sweden! Today we had lunch with our friends Thomas and Sofia.

On Wednesday we move on to Stockholm for work, but I really don't want to leave here! We're having such a good time.

Song of the day: Undertones - Here Comes The Summer

31st of July

2011-07-31T04:22:00.000-07:00

Daniel and I are over at Daniel's parents this weekend. After this we are going to Stockholm for work. We went on a short trip to Öland and there we ran into our good friends Thomas and Sofia from Gothenburg! Such a fun coincidence.

I'm wearing a dress from Miss Patina.

We're having a good time, relaxing and spending lots of time with our family and eating all the Swedish food that I've been missing.

Song of the day: Veronica Maggio - Jag Kommer

Baby Edwin

2011-07-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend I became an auntie! Meet Tanya's little bundle of joy, Edwin. He's so cute and so tiny! Awwww, kittens.

♥♥♥♥♥

I'm wearing an adorable cat-print dress that Tanya gave me for my birthday!

Song of the day: Mew - Beach

23rd of July

2011-07-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today we had another big Ikea-raid and the house is starting to look soooo lovely! I want to save the end result for one big post but I can't help but share little details.

Song of the day: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

What a tragic day

2011-07-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to all the people who have lost loved ones in Norway. Hearing and reading stories about it have brought tears to my eyes several times today. How any human being can do such a thing is completely beyond anything I can understand.

Why are you so skinny?

2011-07-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a long post about an issue I've been meaning to address for quite a long time. A large part of the questions I get are about why I'm so skinny, how I stay skinny, what I eat, what diets I recommend etc.

What I do to stay skinny? I'm sorry to say this, but not much at all. Actually, as an avid fastfood and pizza lover, I'm surprised I'm not twice as big. I've always had a fast metabolism and everyone in my family is just naturally skinny. Unfortunately not everyone is blessed with this and I realize how lucky I am, but I and other bloggers like me have been getting a lot of comments about our weight and lots of questions about eating disorders. Apparently a lot of my photos have appeared on pro-ana blogs and I just wanted to say that I am not okay with that, I do not support or promote that kind of lifestyle at all.

For everyone who genuinely want to know about health and recipes etc: I can give you some tips on how to get to get healthier without going diet-crazy. These are simple basic things that I try to live by, although I have the luxury to ignore these rules sometimes.

I'll start with an awesome recipe for something everyone can enjoy: crisps.

These ones have no fat at all, they're gorgeous and crispy and delicious, super fast and easy to make.

With a potato-peeler (or cucumber-slicer or whatever you like to call it), cut really thin slices of potato. Put them on a sheet of baking paper that'll fit into your microwave. Make sure they're not overlapping, or else they won't be crispy! You can add any seasoning you like, anywhere from salt, pepper, chili-, curry-, paprika-powder and so on. You can even dip them in vinegar! You don't want to put too much salt on 'em though, cause that'll take it back to being really bad for you.

They should look like this when they go in. Put the sheet of baking paper onto the glass plate of your microwave. I set my microwave at the highest setting for 2,5 minutes. Then I open the microwave for a couple of seconds to let the steam out and then they go for another minute. You're gonna want to experiment with the settings of your microwave a bit to find out what's perfect for yours. You're waiting for them to turn a bit brown in places.

When they come out, hopefully they'll look like this:

Let them cool for a while and then you can put them in a bowl. Leave the door of the microwave open while preparing your next batch to let the steam out.

How beautiful is that? This bowl has about two batches. I never thought a microwave could make such gorgeous healthy snacks.

Here are some useful tips for healthier living:

-Never skip meals, especially not breakfast. Eat something small every couple of hours to keep your metabolism going.
-Lower your portions. I eat all the things I like, including fries, pizza, burgers etc, but I generally try to keep my portions small. A great tip for lowering your portions is to buy smaller plates, bowls, pans. That way you won't have that much empty space on your plate. Also cook less so you're not tempted to go for that second serving. If you want to have some crisps or ice cream at night, put a serving in a bowl. Don't eat out of the bag, cause you and I both know it'll be gone before you know it.

-Slow down. Chewing your food well will make it easier to digest. You'll also see that you're less likely to overeat.

-Eat plenty of fruit and veg. It's almost too obvious, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. I tend to buy fresh vegetables, but it's a good idea to always keep some frozen veggies in the freezer!

-Quit soda, drink lots of water. Soda = poison. It's such a bad thing to put into your body. For me this is quite an easy one, 'cause I've never been a fan of soda. But I agree, tap water is one of the most boring things to drink. That's why I buy sparkling water! It still has that nice fizz that'll make it feel like soda, but there are no calories, no sugars, no sweeteners, no artificial flavors. It might take a while to get used to, though, so you might want to add some flavor by throwing in a slice of lemon or a couple of mint-leaves. This'll also be good for your wallet, cause over here you pay about four times as much for a bottle of Coke than for a bottle of sparkling water. Winning!

-Work it. If working out/going to the gym is a big step for you (it certainly is for me), then see where you can sneak exercise into your daily routine. Get a bike, cycle to school or work, walk more, go dancing! Every bit helps.

-Consider vegetarian options. I think a lot of people still see vegetarianism so black and white. A popular misconception is that you have to be either a 100% vegetarian (the kind with armpithair and a deep hatred and judgement for everyone who does eat meat), or not you're vegetarian at all. That is such a 1970's state of mind. I eat mostly vegetarian and often vegan food, but I'll have a Whopper if want one, I'll take salami on my pizza and I love a good barbecue. But most of the time I eat meat replacements. Vegetarian alternatives are really yummy, really healthy and -not unimportantly- a lot cheaper. I think people could benefit a lot by eating a bit less meat. No one likes an evangelical vegetarian, but if you're into the subject, read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. It really put me off meat for a while and I was shocked by the effect the meat industry has on the environment. I buy the best quality meat whenever I can. People have been asking me about yummy vegetarian recipes and I'll think about sharing some on this blog from time to time for inspiration.

-Don't set a goal weight and don't diet. I don't mean to sound like Dr Phil on this one, but it's unavoidable. Don't say: I'm gonna try this diet until I weigh so-and-so many kilo's. Going on a diet will make you feel like you're depriving yourself of something, and as soon as you reach that goal (or as soon as you notice the diet's not working for you) you'll probably fall back into your old habits quite quickly, resulting in the famous yoyo dieting. Instead tell yourself you're going to change your lifestyle. It can only take small changes like the ones listed above to make a big difference in the way you eat. If you're seriously worried about your health, you should consider seeing a dietician.

17th of July

2011-07-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a cosy little evening with my besties Tanya and Michelle and the boyfriend. It was pouring outside so first we stayed in with some wine and a lovely cake that Michelle made. She's the best cook I know. We watched lots of Youtube, this video made Daniel cry with laughter. Later we went to Amsterdam Soul Club. It's my favorite club, 'cause they play only Northern Soul and we are usually the only people there under the age of 40. I made a little video!

Tanya looked adorable in my Miss Patina dress. I had to let her keep it cause it looked so good on her.

My Michelle in an exceptionally stylish tequila hat.

I wore a cute blue cat-print dress that Tanya gave me for my birthday. ♥ I'm sure it'll pop up in an outfitpost very soon!

Song of the day: Martha and the Vandellas - Heatwave

Photoshop tutorial 2

2011-07-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

You guys gave me a couple of cool ideas to work with, and I thought I'd start with another Photoshop tutorial. I did one a while ago, and what I do is basically the same but I can show you what the effect is on different photos. I use Photoshop CS4, but you can do this with any version of Photoshop!

So, the left is what we start with and the right is what we're gonna end up with. If you want, you can download my original image here and follow these steps to practice.

I always start by making a curves layer. I always have the Adjustments-panel right there, but you can also create a curves layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. We're gonna lighten the photo up a bit by dragging the curve up in the middle. You should play with this a bit to see what works best for the photo you're editing. I make sure I don't overexpose my photo's when I take them, cause it looks better to make a darkish photo lighter in Photoshop, than to make a light photo darker.

Now we're gonna make a gradient layer. I always make mine in pink tones for a summery effect or blueish for a colder effect. Again, play with this a bit. Of course we don't want our photo to be all pink, so we're gonna do the following:

We're gonna set the layer style to overlay. This is gonna create a hideous '90s effect, but don't worry, we're gonna tone it down a bit by setting the opacity of the layer to somewhere around 25-30%, and then it'll look like this:

Almost there! Now we're gonna select the part where the light is coming from. In this picture it's the upper left side. Select that part and feather it (Select > Modify > Feather).

Then we'll turn that selection into another one of those lovely pink gradient layers. You'll do the same as before, but not as an Overlay, you set the opacity of the layer to whatever you think looks nice and natural. If all goes well, you'll end up with something like this:

Aaand you're done!

11th of July

2011-07-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

Vintage top, H&M skirt and shoes, Primark satchel and belt.

photos by Daniel

Okay, so now that I have more time for the blog again, I'm a bit lost on ideas on what to post. You guys such an incredibly important part of this blog and you're what keeps me going, so if you have any cool ideas or if there's anything you'd like to see more of, I'd love to hear it!

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who's joined my new Facebook page this weekend! You guys are awesome.

Song of the day: Fake Blood - I Think I Like it

9th of July

2011-07-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dress c/o the lovely Miss Patina and shoes c/o Kling.

If you're always on the lookout for new things to listen to, you'll certainly love Radio Soulwax. The Soulwax/2manydjs boys worked really hard to mix 24 hours of music, accompanied by video. Every hour has a different theme, and there's already 7 hours up. More hours will be added soon. My favorite is the Under The Covers hour, I love the animated record-covers and it makes me want to party! You can also get Radio Soulwax as an app on your phone.

Don't forget to enter my Beta Boutique giveaway if you want that $50 of store credit!

And are you following me on my brand new Facebook page?

Song of the day: Alcoholic Faith Mission - My Eyes To See

Like me on Facebook!

2011-07-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

I just created a Facebook page! I'd like it if you'd like me.

♥

Beta Boutique giveaway

2011-07-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

The lovely Beta of Beta Boutique and I have put together another little giveaway for you guys!

We'll be giving away $50 of storecredit to one of you lovely readers. Awesome! I already picked out some of my favorites from the shop. The giveaway is open for everyone and you can enter until the 15th of July.

How do you participate?

-Make sure you're following The World Looks Red on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'.

-Follow Beta's blog Vintage Beta.

-Leave a comment telling me which item from the shop is your favorite.

Don't forget to include your e-mail address in the comment so I can contact you if you win!

As if that wasn't enough, everyone also gets a 20% discount at Beta Boutique by using the code VeryImportantPerson at checkout.

Good luck, ladies!

couchpotatoes

2011-07-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

OH YEAH. NEW COUCH.

Just waiting for the TV to get here so we can host Paul Rudd movie marathons.

4th of July

2011-07-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

Top and shoes are from Romwe, the skirt and the purse are vintage.

Yes yes yes, this is indeed the same room as in my post of last week. We've been working so hard on it, I'm really proud of my boy and myself. It's not completely done yet but we're getting there. Today we bought an awesome big couch, I can't wait till it gets here! I have lots of cool ideas for this room.

Song of the day: Jon Brion - Knock Yourself Out

3rd of July

2011-07-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today I picked up another roll of film. There were still some photos on it from months back!

Song of the day: Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the move

Look of the day

2011-06-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this is what I've looked like for the past days. Daniel signed the contract yesterday and as you can see we have quite a way to go to really make it a home. But I'm really enjoying all the painting and the cleaning and rearranging and planning and Ikea-shopping. If all goes well we're putting the floors in this weekend. I can't wait to show you when it's done!

Song of the day: Grizzly Bear - Southern Point

Accepting new sponsors for July

2011-06-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Just letting you know that if you own a webshop, Etsy- or Ebaystore that you think will appeal to my readers, you can drop me a line if you're interested in advertising with me.

Write me at laura@theworldlooksred.com so we can talk about my stats and affordable rates. I have a few 250px spaces available in my sidebar. In addition to that you can do a giveaway, but be quick 'cause I'll only do a couple each month! If you have any cool ideas for me, I'd love to hear them!

Disposable spring

2011-06-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

Some spring-moments captured on disposable cameras. One film turned out to be rather yellow!

Song of the day: Sufjan Stevens - I Walked

25th of June

2011-06-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

H&M shoes and blazer, Modcloth dress.

Yesterday I showed some photos in a little exhibition about privacy in the time of internet.

My photos were also published with an article about the exhibition in the university newspaper.

Song of the day: The Kinks - Strangers

22nd of June

2011-06-22T09:03:00.001-07:00

Barcelona through the lens of the infinitely talented and lovely Michela Heim.

Today we got some awesome news: the apartment that I've been sharing with my friend Clara will belong to just me and Daniel from next week on! Even though I love Clara and she's been an excellent flatmate, I can't wait to redecorate everything and hang out at Ikea loads and to have a real living room and to really really live together with my man. I can't believe how huge this apartment is. We're gonna have such a good life here.

Have you seen that I'm in the june/july issue of TeenVogue (US)? I'm so proud! Can't believe my face got printed over a million times!

Song of the day: Pulp - Babies

21st of June

2011-06-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, thank you all so much for the lovely birthdaywishes! My birthday did end up a lot nicer than I expected. After work me and Daniel went for dinner at the Hardrock (where else?), and later Tanya and Michelle joined us for drinks.

I wore this lovely secondhand H&M dress that I scored on a Dutch equivalent to Ebay. It's actually the exact same dress as I'm wearing here, but in a different color. I've been so lucky in the secondhand H&M department lately! All the dresses I've regretted not buying in the past just seem to find their way back to me.

Oh yeah, as if I didn't do enough my-boyfriend-is-the-best-boyfriend-bragging yesterday, he also wrote me another beautiful piano-piece for my birthday. He's amazing. LISTEN.

Song of the day: Bon Iver - Calgary. You guyssss, do everything in your power to get your hands on his new album! It comes out today and I have to admit I've been a bad girl and have been listening to it loads already and it's the best thing out there right now.

Birthdaygirl

2011-06-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday!

The boyfriend was extra cute this morning when he decorated the room and got me a lovely birthdaybreakfast and some little presents like this orchid and some fashion magazines. I also got a subscription to a Swedish gossip magazine (I missed it so much!) and he's gonna take me shopping later! I can't really celebrate it yet cause I'm way too busy but I can't wait 'til all of these deadlines are behind me and I can just pretend it's my birthday then. Tonight we're gonna go out to dinner and I'm just gonna relax for an evening. Much needed!

One more week and I'm gonna go back to being a real blogger who actually has time to reply to all of your lovely comments! I do read and love every single one of them, I appreciate it so much.

♥ love you all.

14th of June

2011-06-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Vintage dress and Romwe shoes.

Could it be that I'm becoming a real-life grown up? It's my birthday in less than a week and the things topping my wishlist are a dishwasher and a dryer. Maybe that says more about my laziness than it does about my maturity. I also really want a banjo and this loopstation and this synth, but Lord, they're pricey! In a bit more than a week my summer break starts and hopefully I'll finally get around to selling alllll those clothes that are waiting for a loving new owner.

Ladies with dull hair, pay attention! I just want to let you in on a hairsecret that I recently found out about and I'm absolutely LOVING (loads of my friends already knew about it, apparently, but still). I don't want to dye my hair anymore cause I really want to go back to healthy hair in my natural color. It's already grown out about 20cm, but in the ends the color fades and turns a bit red after a while, which is why I would dye it over and over and over, really making it worse in the end. But that's where this little magic ball comes in:

I explained my problem at the salon and they gave me this awesome conditioner that Revlon created called Nutri Color Creme, this is 411 BROWN which is a cool brown. I use it about once a week and it keeps my hair all lovelylooking and golden brown, without damaging it. Happy Laura! Cost me about 25€ but it's sooo good and it'll last you about 2 months.

So tonight my Tanya and I are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D, I'm usually quite allergic to those films but I've been told it's okay because there's no Orlando Bloom/Keira Knightley. And I've never seen a 3D-film except for the Michael Jackson one they showed at Disneyland in the 90's.

Song of the day: The Kinks - Powerman (I've been in such a Wes Anderson-mood this week, he has THE BEST soundtracks as well as the best movies)

9th of June

2011-06-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, wow, I haven't posted in a WEEK! I'm sorry. Deadlines for school and all that.

Sooo, here's a fast little outfit post! The dress is from Romwe.

Seeing as I don't have very much to say, I thought I'd share a couple of my Youtube faves!

Long-time readers of this blog will already know that I love this boy. This interview is great. There's a part 2 & 3 to it as well!

All of the episodes of Between Two Ferns by Zach Galifianakis are hilarious and perfectly awkward but this is my favorite.

Sufjan. I love how he tells stories in his songs. He is so special. This song gets me bawlin' each and every time.

She is awesome! I'm saving up for a loop station.

Okay. One more J.Schwartz just 'cause I can.

2nd of June

2011-06-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

The dress and the shoes are from local shops and the bag is vintage.

photos by Daniel

OH WOW, it's June already!

Yesterday I went shopping and I bought three more blue dresses. They're my favorite thing. I'm so in love with the bunny-print on this one. And did you see my vintage Kelly-esque bag? Isn't it a beaut? I was so excited when I found it at the local thriftstore!

I've been thinking of getting one of those Bralizian Blowdry Keratin-treatments for my terribly dry and damaged hair, but the price had me hesitating. Today I saw Gliss has a new line of keratin shampoos and conditioners. I bought it and I'll give it a try, but I'm not expecting much for this price. I'll let you know if it's any good! Anyway, if any of you have experience with getting a Bralizian Blowdry treatment, can you let me know if it's worth the money? So tired of my dry hair.

Song of the day: Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

Barcelona / Primavera festival

2011-05-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

Before I catch you up on the rest of my trip, I need to say that YES, this is me and my childhood crush Jarvis Cocker. ♥ Even though he was a bit less of a dreamboat than he was about 15 years back, knees definitely did get weak!

Okay. I didn't really have a chance to keep up with blogging, so let's rewind to day four of our Barcelona-trip. The festival is taking its toll and we are getting more tired, so we just take it easy during the day, seeing as we have to stay up all night (the festival ended around 6:00AM every morning)

We went to the geekiest bar I've ever seen, Bosc de les Fades: it was decorated like a fairytale-cave/forest kind of thing so obviously I was beyond excited.

Then we went to another bar. And then the beach. What a day!

Then we decided it was time to head to the festival! We saw Explosions in the Sky, who were definitely the highlight of my day and the second best thing at the whole festival, after Sufjan of course.

Other than that we saw Belle and Sebastian, Low, Fiery Furnaces, Pere Ubu, Tennis, M. Ward, Ariel Pink aaaand PULP. Seeing Pulp was extra exciting, obviously.

The next day we did EVEN LESS, but around 4PM we went to the Auditorium to see Perfume Genius. They were a bit boring but it was a nice excuse to doze off a bit in comfy chairs. The Auditorium was in such a nice building!

We met some lovely Swedish friends, funny thing was that Daniel's friend Charlotte and my friend Michela were each other's friends as well. Such a small world!

Michela is really lovely and an amazingly talented photographer, check out her website.

♥ Hottie.

Oh yeah, Michela's boyfriend Oscar is also awesome at photography.

This day we saw Fleet Foxes, The Album Leaf, Perfume Genius, The Tallest Man On Earth, Yuck, Warpaint, Za!, Mogwai, PJ Harvey and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Oh yeah, and then Barcelona won the Champions League and the whole city went crazy! We were staying at Plaza Catalunya where things got completely out of hand that night! Riots and fights and police. I don't understand why they still have to fight even though they won! We got home safe, though.

All in all it was a really awesome festival and an even more awesome trip. I really enjoyed Barcelona and I will definitely come back! The architecture was just breath-taking all around. Thank you all for your tips on where to go, it definitely made my stay more successful.

Song of the day: The Album Leaf - Always For You

Barcelona day 3

2011-05-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we didn't do very much except for hanging around Barri Gotic and drinking loads of Sangria.

And then later...
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
SUFJAN STEVENS

Queued up for about two hours but we had the best seats in the house. During Impossible Soul we all got up and danced and it was so euphoric and there were giant balloons. And how adorable is Sufjan? I made a little video compilation of the gig!

Barcelona day one pt2 / day two

2011-05-26T00:57:00.000-07:00

At the end of the first day we headed to the beach.

Day two

We started out with breakfast at Starbucks around the corner. Love those mugs, they're bigger than my face.

I WANT I WANT I WANT.

Then we went to Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which was SO beautiful! We didn't even go in, the building and the area was beautiful enough.

My dress is from Miss Patina!

After that we went on to Parc Güell.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Later we went to a mall where I planted the boy on a bench and I raided Primark.

After that we went to the beach again.

I was pretty gutted a couple of days ago when I found out that the entry to the Sufjan Stevens gigs at Primavera was gonna be decided by a ballot. I was so afraid I wasn't gonna get in, cause he is the only artist I was REALLY looking forward to seeing. But yesterday we got an e-mal saying we got in! I couldn't be happier. So tonight I'm seeing Sufjan and Flaming Lips and loads of other things. Exciting!

Barcelona day one / part one

2011-05-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Just back for a quick pitstop at the hotel before dinner so I thought I'd share the first batch of freshly taken photo's! We arrived around 8AM this morning, we were both exhausted cause we got up at 2:30AM. Took a little nap and then headed into town. Love it, love this city, the hotel is perfect and the weather is absolutely amazing.

23rd of May

2011-05-23T04:59:00.000-07:00

SORRY for my absence. I'll probably won't post much for another couple of days starting now because tomorrow me and the boy are off to Barcelona for the week. Will most likely be on Twitter though!

Here is a lovely dress I got from Miss Patina. Absolutely adore their new summercollection!

Yesterday we went to Paradiso to see Sam Amidon. The man is a delight. Awesome music, awesome show, awesome banjo skills. A couple of days before that we saw this awesome band called Vessels. Genius!

By the way, I uploaded a different version of the video I had in my previous post. Got a lot of complaints that it was blocked in the U.S.! CLICK. This time there is no song so you can use your own music or sing or just watch it in silence.

Back to packing my suitcase!

Spring 2011 video

2011-05-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

I don't really have many photo's to share right now so I thought I'd make a little video-compilation with random clips from this spring!

Features several kinds of funny bikes, cats, pigs, lambs, horses, ducks, birds, a fake cow, picnics, barbecues, Villagers, Daniel's dancemoves, Daniel's acrobatics, mom and dad, my sister-in-law, Rosa, Saar, Elke, airhockey, the sky and some other things and people that I really like.

This weekend we went to a holiday park to celebrate my mom and dad's 30th wedding-anniversary. It was really fun. You can see some images from the weekend in my video, I'll see if I will put up some photos later!

Thank you all for for lovely words on my Amsterdam shopping guide! Unfortunately Blogger messed up and all of your comments were erased, along with the post itself.

Also, it's less than a week until we leave for Barcelona! The Primavera timeschedule is up and I don't have to miss anything I really want to see. Are any of you going to Primavera?

Amsterdam shopping guide

2011-05-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Alright now, I've been promising this for ages but here it is! A few tips on where to go when you're visiting Amsterdam. It's not complete yet so I guess I'll be updating this post from time to time.

Markets

The best tip I can give you is to go to Noordermarkt on mondaymornings. It's not far from the central station and it's a big market with lots of cheap vintage clothes. Average prices for dresses vary from about 5€ to 20€ depending on the seller. There are giant heaps of clothes that you have to dig through, but you can find some amazing stuff here. Make sure you get there early! Around 9:00 is a good time.

Waterlooplein has a market from 9.00 to 17.00 every day except Sunday. It's part vintage clothes and shoes, but it also has secondhand paintings, camera's, books, bikes, instruments, furniture, kitschy stuff etc, and there are some stalls that sell new products.

Every first saturday and sunday of the month there is a huge fleamarket (about 500-700 stalls) at IJ-hallen at the NDSM-docks. It's brilliant. Anyone can sell there so you never know what gems you'll find.

Vintage shops

On Wolvenstraat you'll find two shops opposite to each other called Laura Dols. One has mostly evening wear, wedding dresses, purses, hats, shoes and other pretty luxury accessories. Sequins, lace, tulle & glitter heaven. The other has more casual clothes and children's clothing.

Episode has two locations, one at Berenstraat and one at Waterlooplein. I don't really love shopping here cause they're generally a bit overpriced 'cause they select their items by what's on trend right now and the clothing is often altered. Dresses go from about 25€ to 45€. It's hard to find real gems here but it can never hurt to have a look!

The same goes for Zipper, which has two locations: one at Huidenstraat and one at Nieuwe Hoogstraat (near Waterlooplein). In the area around Waterlooplein (Jodenbreestraat and the beginning of Nieuwe Hoogstraat) you will find some more little vintage shops.

Also near Waterlooplein, at Staalstraat, you'll find Retro en Chic 1953. Love the style of this shop.

Located at the beginning of Haarlemmerstraat (near the central station) there's a vintage boutique called Wini. They have some pretty dresses and jewelry.

The rest of Haarlemmerstraat is also worth checking out, there are a lot of little boutiques with cool unique stuff, like Restored, a shop that sells a lot of things from independent designers. Anything from jewelry, clothing and things for your home.

Kalverstraat is usually a street you want to avoid, but Swedish chain Monki opened up a store there that's worth checking out. Other than that you'll find Zara, River Island and about half a dozen H&M's on this street.

Food

Wok To Walk. "I'll have the rice with tofu and curry-coconutsauce" is among my most-used phrases. Starting from 5€ you get a lovely orange box full of stir-fried goodness. Several locations.

Maoz. Chain of falafel-restaurants. You get falafel in a pita and you can choose from a wide variety of sauces and salads to add (and add and add some more) to that. Several locations.

Hardrock Café. Me and Daniel go here about once a week. Cheap, cheerful, friendly staff, cool music, free refills on soda, best fries in the world and good vegetarian options (you can replace the meat with a veggie patty on any burger). Located near Leidseplein. You nearly always have to wait for a table, unless you have an All Access-pass like us losers do. Waiting times can vary from 10 minutes to a whopping 1,5 hour, but you get one of those pagers so you can hang around town while you wait.