Why no title? Well I couldn't think of one fitting this post. I could start off with something along the lines of 'AWESOME QUEENS DAY 2009!!!' But after yesterday it was not as festive as one would expect it to be.

For those who have not caught up with the news, yesterday a 38 year old male drove intentionally through the crowd who was watching the Royal Family go by, in an attempt to their lives.

Fortunately they did not get injured - however a lot of innocent people did. The current situation is 5 people dead and the idiot who did it dead as well. Watching the Dutch news in the UK is proving to be a bit of a challenge at times - but there is a steady flow of information from other sites.

In my opinion Queens day have lost it's innocence - we always could get very close to the Royal family when they participated in Queens day activities. I even got to shake hands with the Queen when I was a toddler - she visited the city I lived in that year. I think only time will tell what will happen to Queens day, I hope it will stay the same old Dutch party that we all know and love, but I'm doubt full.

Hopefully there won't be any more deaths, two of the nine people who are still in the hospital are critically injured. Let's hope for the best.....

Now that mini image at the top is my attempt to make my own Tompoezen this year. So for the non-Dutchies a Tompoes is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompouce

After my horrible attempt to make pastry cream on the 28th - I had better luck with a different recipe on the 29th. It actually was the proper solid stuff. One of my colleagues followed a different recipe this the result (no I'm not laughing....too loud). I did the pretty one in the back (^o^)

Besides all of this the move is going fine, despite the fact that there are boxes everywhere in the house now. I cannot wait to get rid of them and make the place look pretty again. I simply cannot live that way with boxes everywhere.

Today the IKEA furniture arrived adding to the boxcount, but hopefully we can work hard and get it all built this weekend! And I think I got the coolest officechair in the house

Things are going to change....

So March was a busy and interesting month just to name a few things:
- I passed my probation at my job
- Going to move house (again)
- But just to live with my Bloke :)
- Got a massive expansion on my kimono/Japanese collection
- Did I mention moving in with my Bloke?

Job wise it was a lot off stress an mayhem over March, end of the financial year was looming and all the design work had to be squeezed into very little time. Fortunately I was able to work fast and not get stuck with loads of work in the evening and weekends. Some stress and hard work is fine but I'm glad that month is over.

David decided to take me out to the Crab at Chievely, which is a lovely restaurant with amazing food. Starters like scallops with white chocolate & caviar - and if you get a chance do go for the Crab, that baby is huge! Anyway he asked me just before the starters to move in with him, now I can be a real girl and start crying (I must admit that I had to swallow a few times to keep the tears back) but I didn't want to just burst out in tears in the middle of the restaurant.

Also the couple next to us seemed to listen to everything we said and threw a bunch of dirty looks our way. So the big move of my place to his/ours will start right after Easter. It is pretty weird to see your place up on a letting agency site while you are still there. The sign has been firmly planted outside so it is all ready to go. I will miss my kittehs though :(

My kimono collection has grown rapidly in the last week! I had to indulge in some beauties (which all can be found on my Flickr stream on the right), but I think my latest purchase is one to look out for - It is an antique geisha doll. Which reminds me from when I was a young girl going with my dad onto big Japanese container ships to meet the Captain and where my dad had to do business.

They all had a glass display with one of those dolls inside, now there is a lot of touristy shit on Ebay - but I have found me a little gem. I think I will call her Katsuragi - seems to be fitting for her and also remind me of my first encounter with one of these dolls.

So as you might have guessed it will be a massive move with all the things I got to take - poor David :)

Ohhh puhlease....

You think you can pass? Well this the is day to day hassle I get from my local cats. They are all fun and games until you get home and you find all 3 of them on my staircase refusing to let me pass. And when I get lucky I get the 4th one from down the road with it for free.


Spring has arrived in the UK, which is always good when you are cycling to work every day. In the last months I have been battling with snow, rain and wind. Needless to say how much it sucks. But things are looking brighter my sunglasses are permanently in my bag again and during lunch me and the guys from the office head out to our local pub to have a pint and sit in the sun.

The pub is right next to a canal that flows through the city so during the summer and spring you have a lot of boats going by, and a bunch of killer swans (damn those things are big and cheeky)



This is what it looks like from our point of view whilest doing bugger all and enjoying a pint :)

Speaking about pints, yesterday -the 17th - was St. Patricks Day, since my other half is Irish this of course called for a massive celebration. Unfortunately I have been swamped with work again and barely made it home to him before 6. But I found a Guinness waiting for me and a lovely meal with Irish sausages, mash and steak and Guinness pie! Absolutely gorgeous.


Another reason to celebrate was our first kill on Malygos, yes I'm still the World of Warcraft Nerd. But after trying to kill it for the last 3 weeks you can imagine me and my guild was pretty happy with the kill. Anyway here is some belated St. Patricks Day fun :)





Right since I'm blogging during work I better get to it - catch you all later! More will follow soon got a whole post about my Kimono adventures lined up

PS. I decided to try a new font - just for laughs.

Snow, kimono and happy new year!

Well first post of 2009 so Ithink a very, very belated 'happy new year' is in order here :)

Without a doubt you all might have heard of the lovely weather conditions in the UK, and here in Newbury it is not any different: SNOW! When I get left to bed it was a mild drizzle of snow and by the time I got up this morning at 3:15am - Ebay auction - it was a white world outside with about 13cm of thick fresh
snow.
This morning it was even more and today it will get more, so I think hot chocolate is the way forward here. The picture is taken from my office window, check out the hill everyone is having loads of fun! So we might leave for home early cause the hills here are scary when you are driving a rear weel drive car.

Speaking about cars, I have finally got my provisional driving licence after loads of hassle. Sending in your photocopy of your passport is not enough to the DVLA, no you actually need to send out the original passport. So much for this great EU thing where every country can easily exchange information....FAIL! So when this lovely snow dissapears I will be taking my first lessons on English soil. Currently reading up on the theory and you got to love a place that has Pelican and Tucan crossings :D




Last weekend I went to Tokyo day in London, it was awesome! I don't get too many occasions to dress up in my kimonos and this time I thought it was time to wear my brand new light yellow houmongi. I had some people fromwork joining me that day as well and Christians girlfriend was happy enough to wear one of my kimonos and join the fun. She looked stunning in her ko-furisode. More pictures on my Flickr account (see on your left). At the end of February I have another kimono event, and I have been asked to participate in a kimono fashionshow! Yes it has been a a fun time the last few weeks.

I'm being shown on webcam...

And I disapprove!!! Well according to Nijn her face ^^ Dad was kind enough to bring her upstairs in front of the webcam and in true bunny style she disapproved massively.

I do miss the little furball, she has been at my old place in Bussum many times and always enjoyed having her over. Well I say that now but at the time I was cursing her for the mess she made! Speaking about little bunnies, my sister finally managed to get her own Bumper. I know...but I wasn't involved in the naming of the little one ^^ 

Apparently Bumper is sporting quite the attitude and that will go well with her owner. You know what they say pets can look a lot like their owners *Only joking Nicole* So here for your viewing pleasure some Bumper pictures because she is cute and fluffy.