London 2008

Day 1: Arrived by Eurostar smack into the centre of London at St Pancras, after much effort, found Hoxton Hotels which turns out to be a godsend. Spiffy area or "SWANKY" according to charmaine. After a nice brazillian dinner at Favela Chic, we give in to the down blankets and eygptian cotton sheets.

Day 2: Decided it's time we finally see London from the water and took up the River rover hop on hop off service from Tower Pier. Since we're sooooo early, we needed to take some 'french' pastries and tea.

Day 2: cont'd Boat was tacky but gives you fantastic view and wind chill.

cont'd : Towards Canary Wharf and Greenwich. Some exciting apartments along the river, maybe it is time to move?

Of course, get some seafood down at Greenwich, see the Royal Naval College and a skating dog near the meridian.

Day 3: Spitalfields! We had breakfast at Canteen @ spitalfields (so not worth my water cress salad + snootty staff..GJ had a awesome eggs benedict though). Everything in Spitalfields looks nicer but is much more expensive...save your money and go to Camden instead.

Walked around London, before meeting up with Charmaine.

cont'd : Camden Lock...where GJ had his first ever Starbucks experience is even better with Boh around, took us to Primrose Hill, where we had a celebrity sighting of Helena Bonham Carter and maybe...Tim Burton...followed by a lucious Hache steak as part of the BOH 2 Day London Tour itinerary. Mei came along graciously, but was struck by a bug midway through dinner. Get well soon!!

Romantic views of London from Primrose Hill..as boh suggested let's catch the sunset...

Day 4: On our way back...had to give the english food another go to clog up our arteries before we left.

Luuurve London.
I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Charmaine @ Holland

Boh attempts to photography Koolhaas's underground station

Boh looking chic on a bike from behind

Boh cycling in Delft

Boh playing with other people's children on the tram.

Things I want in 2008

January is the time to plan your entire year...or so you think.

Nonetheless, the eternal optimist is going to try again.

I want to:

• Get settled here with the permit, the phd and everything.

• Look good or get comatose (either ways) on the beaches of Corsica by June/July (found new swimsuit, half the work done!)

• Bring my mom and Nixon for a nice trip in Rome, Italy in the summer when they come.

• Make a craft room for myself out of that dingy study we have. (inspiration from My Aim is True)

November 2007

Finally, a break with GJ just the two of us, in Limburg, Ardenne and Luxembourg.

September 2007

Conference in Glasgow.

August 2007

When ma was here for my graduations.

November - Work Parties

There is nothing better than getting rowdy and drunk after a hard day of work ( or end of work) with good colleagues and bosses.

new words of the day, week, months

In the course of doing my work and reading about it, I come across the most peculiar words.

Ersatz: is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement. Although it is used as an adjective in English. (Wikipedia)

Concomitant: existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent: an event and its concomitant circumstances. (Dictionary.com)

8th January, 2008
Tickety-boo : Going smoothly, doing all right (Urban Dictionary)

23rd January, 2008:
Diurnal : (Websters)
a: recurring every day <diurnal tasks> b: having a daily cycle <diurnal tides>2 a: of, relating to, or occurring in the daytime diurnal noises> b: active chiefly in the daytime <diurnal animals> c: opening during the day and closing at night <diurnal flowers>

the list shall continue...

COS my new love

I've discovered a new love. Affordable, excellently designed clothing from COS (Collection Of Style) by H&M, designed by Rebekkah Bay. How can anyone not love architectural, origami like clothes, with exquisite (NATURAL) fabric that surprise you at every turn. Been to the Den Haag store, bought the top on the left for only EUR29? It drapes beautifully and has a neckline that looks like a beginning of a paper boat and feels like paper but is cotton!
The store is beautifully minimalistic and the sales staff a dream and you should know that usually is hard to find in the Netherlands. Clothes come to you gorgeously wrapped up in tissue, in a solid paper bag with a beautiful striped ribbon as handles. The menswear section is equally delicious and I might just steal some of that even if the womens wear does come to a size 18.

London Research Trip 7th-10th April

Victoria Station:
Example of major transportation hub which carries and generates 24/7 activities and fringe activity that grows around it









Area around Leicester Square and Covent Garden..start of Soho
Night- time leisure hotspot generated by type of industry and a general vibe for 24/7 activity.




View of Oxford Circus at 2 am.

i heart anthropologie

Pitched at the affluent 30-40 year old weaned off Urban Outfitters who want one of a kind pieces...

Sign me up...

I'm dedicating 20% of my future annual income to anthropologie.com for my wardrobe and maybe even shares....

HARD CANDY

SURF SAFE WEAR RED

In life, on line, in general...
Should you hunt the big bad wolf or does the hunted become the hunter?
Be aware, be wary, of energy predators, people who require energy from you to survive.
Give energy and goodwill by all means to people you love, but beware the suckers who drain you. Don't give them the chance.

London withdrawal

Whoever said that London had bad weather was not there the weekend of 7-10th March. We had perfect weather and saw part of London that we did not get to see before, going down to Camden Lock, Westminster Abbey, British Musuem, Temple Church, without the pressure of doing the touristic route, well the main spots anyways.

If there is a place for breathtaking architecture, new and old, there is none more varied than in London, where you can literarily feel the layers pile and peel off each other. And what do you get? a musuem that opens till 23.00 from thursday nights onwards, now that's cosmopolitan.

We took the Da Vinci Code walking tour which was amusing at best, thanks to the effort of our knowledgeable guide, Maria, who despite the cancelled talk from the Temple Master (since 1 year ago....not updated on brochures) and the closure of Temple church, made a very interesting afternoon around London, showing off Fleet Street, Templar Remains, coded churches by Jean Cocteau.

We got to see the Rosetta stone, Ramses, touch some 3000 year old relic, in a musuem that is FREE....because the civilized believed that culture and knowledge is something to be shared. The king's library and the reading room with it's round vaulted ceilings in robin's egg blue is a wonder to behold.










This time with an eye on my research, we paid special attention to the Soho, Camden areas, hanging out till late..which is refreshing that shops DO NOT shut down at 10pm and that people and transport companies apparently do still operate after sun down unlike here in Holland.

GJ found his new addiction of Caramel Macchiato in starbucks and my continued amazement as to why why why? american chains have not yet invaded the dutch coffee front? I know it's not strictly good coffee, but I would like the choice of sickening syrups in my coffee and whipped cream please.
We had a lovely stay at 291 suites, which is so hip it does not have a name, the HUGE room with all attached mod cons/amenities is well worth the location and the price, note to self, will no longer stay in hotels in europes, period.

It's also a great time to fly around Europe, less than EUR 70 for both return from Eindhoven to London, but only 1 piece of hand luggage allowed and remember only 1litre of liquids allowed in 10, 100ml bottles or else you will be treated like a terrorist.

And of course, a small world, given that I met an old childhood friend at Stansted airport at 6am in the morning.

It's shrinking world.

We celebrated Geert & Jeanne's 35th Wedding Anniversary with the entire extended family in Ameland, so that 8 adults, 4 toddlers and 1 baby, schleping to a small but incredibly beautiful island in the North of Holland. We had beautiful weather and the villa that was rented was amazing, open fireplace, sauna, whirlpool and surrounded by rolling dunes, the sea and 3 rabbits and horses. It was all about just spending time relaxing, cycling from one tiny village to another along the coast of Ameland.

Chinese New Year Steamboat

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the Pig/Boar.
Thank you for all who turned up for the steamboat on the 7th Day!
If only Charmaine was also here to makan...

Love Renzo Piano

How can you not love a man who thinks of his problem child type past and calls himself a rubbaro? Check out his interview with Metropolis Mag (Renzo Piano)

Wish List

This is for you GJ, because you never know what to get me. (It is in no particular order or rank)

• My Fair Lady Tickets
• Damask Laptop Bag
• Kissing Kid Pendant (would make a nice stocking filler!)
  
• Anything from ASOS Women/Beauty
  

what's ur guilty pleasure?

come on, come on, fess up fess up
#1: VOGUE - in the words of divine Carrie, "sometimes i just felt like it fed me more
#2: online goss HOLLYWOODRAG! makes u thankful for ur mediocrity
#3: TCM - turner's classic movies - they don't make them like they use to
#4: design*sponge - because the world is too ugly otherwise
#5: Nissin Spareribs instant noodles - with soup that doesn't taste like dishwater!
#6: Any Next Top Model show - reality can be cruel to models too
#7: Wallpaper*
#8: http://www.asos.com - cheap, imitations of things too expensive to afford and online
#9: H&M - fashion equivalent of instant noodles, online shopping too!
#10: custom personalised stationary - email just doesn't have that edge

new place

I am lazy and now i finally found someone who actually took pictures of our new place. HAH!
We all live in the towerblocks in the background...don't you just love the lake view?
City centre living to the max..we had a samba band parade right out our window...
Our living room, both sides...

ever wished?

that you could go send a message to your future self so that you can send a message or sign back to yourself to save you from making stupid decisions?

you can just turn the mute button on some people and turn the blind button on some?

people would come with their descriptions and price tag like something you buy online?

that the arseholes of the world get it socked to them like they deserve to?

your parents would never grow old?