Inspirations...

Lately I have been keeping myself busy all the time. I don't know why I do that. Maybe because it makes me feel good to think that I have a lot of things to do. I know that might sound weird but if you have been a housewife and stayed home all the time for a (long)while you would know what I mean. To avoid ending up to be a desperate housewife, you got to find something fun to do. Well, I don't mean cleaning and tidying your home of course!!

Anyway I had a nice weekend though. Something funny and incredible happened on Saturday when we went shopping in the supermarket called Jumbo. We bought an apple tart and some other groceries. After paying, we checked the receipt and found out that a cashier girl probably keyed in a wrong price and we were overcharged 10 cents for the tart (it was supposed to be 4.99 euros but we paid 5.10). My husband told me to forget about it ("it was only 10 cents!", he said) but I didn't want to forget. LOL! So we went back to the service counter and informed them about it. But instead of giving us back our 10 cents they gave us 5 euros and said "That's the rule. You get the item for free if we make mistake with the price." Wow, that's a good policy, right? I really like Jumbo!!!!

OK, now let me tell you what I did in the weekend.

First, I just finished my painting!!
"The broken heart flowers"

Two years for not having painted anything and my hand and fingers became a little stiff. So it took me a bit to get my mind(and my hand) into painting again. But once I did then everything went smoothly. The result could have been better but I am quite satisfied anyway. I plan to do another painting and after that I will hang both on the wall in our livingroom.

And I bought a few magazines to read on the bed. I am the kind of person who cannot sleep that easy. My husband for example, he lays himself down and two seconds later he already falls asleep. I can't just do that unless I am really really tired. I have to read something before I can sleep. This condition was worse when I was younger and struggled with being sleepless. I remember I used to keep television on every night so I could sleep and that helped! But now instead of TV, I use a reading.

And These are the magazines that I talked about. Three of them cost me 7 euros and I think they are worth the money.


I like Libelle magazine and have followed it since I moved to Holland 3 years ago. There's everything in this magazine -- fashion, home decor, holiday tips, food, etc. I used to borrow it from my mom in-law but now I buy every issue myself. And not being able to understand Dutch well isn't a problem because I can already enjoy just by looking at the nice pictures.

By the way, although there are a lot of interesting and inspiring home decoration ideas in these magazines but somehow I wonder how practical it would be when you have to use some of those really-worn-out furnitures in real life (I saw one sofa that looks completely ruined and its seat burst out). It of course gives you an artistic impression but to sit on it or use it daily I don't think it would be comfortable. Or when you leave all the kitchen wares on those open shelves, wouldn't they collect a lot of dust? I have my stuff in the closed cupboards and I do clean my house regularly but still the dust finds the way to get in anyway. Maybe if I want to have open shelves someday I should clean the house more often. :-D

Nonetheless, I admit that the room certainly looks kind of charming and unique with those lovely open shelves instead of the expensive shiny cupboard or the old-and-worn-out-wooden table instead of a new polished one (but no matter what I wouldn't pick that wrecked sofa). Maybe it's just like 'art' that to appreciate its beauty you have to look beyond its reality (and practicality).

What more to say here... Hmm (thinking). Oh, I left this indoor plant outside the house since a few months ago because I thought it was dead.

Today I noticed that it came back alive and started to grow again, so I put it back inside. Unfortunately I don't have a proper pot for it so hang on there tiny little plantje. The pot is on its way!!

Oh yes, I almost forgot that I wanted to show some lovely things I found today. After spending some time on internet going through a lot of nice decor websites, I found this lovely and nice and inspiring home. The owner of the house is Nancy Fishelson and she is a designer in California I think (didn't read it well because I couldn't stop looking at the pictures of her lovely rooms!). Hope I don't break the copyright if I put the pictures here.

I love this kitchen!!

Using the wood panel on the wall instead of conventional tiles makes the kitchen look more beautiful, don't you think? I think I will keep this idea for my future kitchen too. No more tiles!!

Lovely old furnitures.

I love the white furnitures

(all these lovely pictures are from http://www.countryliving.com/)

And say goodbye for today with the picture of Tobey lying nicely at the sun spot in our livingroom.