Striped Odori Kimono

Striped Odori Kimono, a photo by Talleke81 on Flickr.

Updates...

Yes I had another kimono outing with my friends to the London Expo - Believe it or not, I felt rediciously old when I got there. A lot of teens dressed up as Navi, Pokemon trainers and a whole load as unknown anime figures to me.
Yes my days running around in latex, wielding two guns and doing my Lara Croft 'thing' are long gone....

So I was dressed in a mature kimono with Asanoha pattern and a Kaioke paterned obi. At the Expo there was a tiny corner reserved for Japanese related activities, like origami, calligraphy and kimono dressing. One of the ladies there stopped us and gave me the full 'inspection'.
The final verdict was 'very good dressed kimono, very tidy..good..good'. And of course the ever present question: 'Who dressed you?'.
The look on her face was priceless when we told he we dressed ourselves. It is a shame that the art of kimono wearing (kitsuke) is fading even in Japan. After some wandering we decided to head to Picadilly Circus for some nice Japanese food.

While eating our desert in the local Häagen-Dazs restaurant David rang me if I could make it to the Apple store to grab him some new toys for his iPad!

Speaking about iPads - David had a wonderful surprise for me and got me an iPad. Already it is fully abused as a sketching tool and a wonderful webbrowsing tool...and much much more.
I simply love it! I got a bright purple case for it, instead of the Apple one, since I want some more color. Also it has a holder for my new iPad sketch pen :P

Today I got busy and decided to bake some more cupcakes, a colleague of mine Jess makes the most wonderful cupcakes. We both have the Hummingbird Bakery book and pretty much every Monday morning at work we bring in our handy work - my weeks handy work are Lemon Cupcakes! Great for this humid weather and very jummy. I go some American muffin paper cases instead of the smaller uk muffin cases and the sponge is sooooo much better! David managed to grab one of the plate, only 11 more left :P
I'm looking forward in baking some more from this book in August when my Dad is coming over for his birthday - I better start practising ^^

Tuut Tuut Driving...

Lock your doors, close the windows and stay inside...as you might have guessed I got a car.
And I am loving it! However I hate car shopping, the amount of time and pitfalls you have to watch out for is insane.

Fortunately I had a 'car buff' with me when looking at them, so I could just stand there and debate with myself if I liked the colour. In the end I got very lucky, the first real car viewing ended up in purchasing it. So I'm not the proud owner of a blue Peugot 306 - named Blue Bertha :)

Onlything that needs addressing is that horrible Eau de Dog inside the care, previous owner had a dog and I still find loads of dog hairs. Also I am going to attempt to clean my seats again for the 3rd time this weekend and hopefully get a little bit more rid of the dirt and smell.
David has been awesome in acompanying me on some of my journeys, it feels nice and reassuring to have him sitting next to me. So I think it is time to start tuning my car and learn how to drift around corners....Newbury watch out ^^

One Day,One Week,One Story

One Day,One Week,One Story
Originally uploaded by Canonshot Mole

So this is where bunnies come from ... :P
Found this picture on Flickr and it is lovely to see those little fuzzballs grow! Makes me want to get one again...I'm sure it would have a party running around the garden and lounge!

So if everything went according to plan I was supposed to be in Gibraltar right now. Unfortunately BA announced a strike and our flight got canceled, so mildly annoyed we re booked for a later date - but guess what the strike in canceled at the last moment.
Checked BA's website and the flight to Gibraltar left this morning on time and landed safely 2.5 hrs later.

On another completely random note - I passed my driving test! Yes I am finally the proud owner of a full UK driving license, so where I failed horribly in NL I managed to get right (in one go) in the UK now I don't know if this comes down to sheer dumb luck or actual skill. I'm hoping for the latter that way my driving instructor Richard has done his job :)
Next challenge is car shopping - which is going to be entertaining at least, since I have zero knowledge of cars. I'm still hoping to find a bright orange one, but I'm sure David won't let me park it anywhere near the house ^^

Look what I found...!

Oh yeah! Now they even got Starbucks coffee in the supermarket - iced
latte are jummie! Saintsbury's sells them :D

If you are not a WoW nerd like me, look away now...

I just got my 4th piece of Tier 10 :D
So this will give me a set bonus, which is ok for a disc priest... this is how I look in game:

I has cupcake making skills

I was bored Sunday and decided to 'abuse' my hummingbird bakery book -
result is vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing in various colours!
Check out the black emo cupcake it looks happy ^^

Best Bu(nn)ddies

This is so adorable - who says cats and bunnies cannot live together :)

Daily dose of Bunneh :)

Sveta
Such a little cutie - I miss my bunny Nijn :(

Originally uploaded by Beanuh82

Happy new year dance... ^^

Well it is now 6:52 in the morning on the 6th of January 2010 - you may ask 'Why are you out of bed so early?' without going into detail too much the answer is...Work!

But also because there is about 3 inches of snow here, and I'm just a big child when it comes to snow. It has been falling at a consistent pace last night and although there is a fair amount of it, I think it is still too little. David might disagree since he cannot drive anywhere at this point - but I'm loving it.

However since here in the UK they have yet to grasp the concept of proper gritting - I cannot cycle or be driven to work. Which gives me two options:

1. Work from home.

2. Walk to work, which takes about a good 1.5 hours in snow.

'Reluctantly' I'm going to choose the latter, I love a good snow walk - however after slipping on ice yesterday and nearly breaking something I need to change my footwear. *Ponders if she could borrow David skies :)*

Anyway I got sidetracked with ramblings - Happy new year to all! I hope 2010 may be a year where we say goodbye to the recession and all the fighting in the world, and that one dreams may come true!

My mandatory new year resolutions are a combination of more holidays, going out to the cinema and dinner more, have a lot more fun and seriously curb my kimono spending :)

In March this year Alice in wonderland will be released and I simply cannot wait!

So without further ado: Robo Geisha - with her Happy New Year dance! Enjoy ^^

Cuteness overload

Super Cute Holland Lop Bunny
Originally uploaded by curryosity

Ok you have Christmas bunnies that end up on your plate, but this is the kind you want to find as a present under the tree, your very own fluff ball :D

Nothing special just thought I'd share it ... Bunneh kisses :)

ISN'T SHE LOVELY?
Originally uploaded by unaerica

Some pretty stuff I did...

Work for me around this time of year is so busy, all those companies that want to get their site/product ready for Christmas. I actually love this time of year, I'm always busy with nice things and there is never a boring moment.

At the company I work for we have loads of clients that are fun to work with! I always like working on the London Eye - their new brand looks stylish.
Every time there is a special event they do a site 'overhaul' and change the colors and the main Flash. This year I got to do the main flash banner and I went for a magical Christmas feeling.
So here you have it snow falling, lights twinkling - I'm very pleased with this.
My work in action can be seen at www.londoneye.com

I'm taking the train .....

I'm actually going to the Netherlands and celebrate Sinterklaas there, Im truly looking forward to this - I'm already building up my pepernoten appetite.

Unfortunately 'Bloke' is not coming with me, but I'll be bringing him some nice noms back.

Normally I fly from London heathrow to Amsterdam and then from there I make my way to my parents. But this time I'm actually taking the train to Rotterdam - I haven't done that journey before and I'm actually quite looking forward to this journey. Just chilling and play a bit on my Macbook, read a book, have a snooze I'm sure those 4.5 hours will be by in no time. I only have to wake up in time to transfer trains in Brussels.

Now 4.5 hours might seem very long since the actual flight only takes 45 min, but think about the whole check-in mess at the airport and other things like that. It's a good thing I like trains so much :) So now I'm thinking about what presents I need to bring over for sinterklaas. Only I don't have Sinterklaas gift wrapping paper :(

It's the season to be Jolly...

Well we're not quite there yet as a Dutchie I'm awaiting the arrival of Sinterklaas, here you go non-Dutchies the Wiki link. As described in the Wiki page Sinterklaas is mainly about chocolate and lots of this commodity. I can tell you one thing ever since I was a little girl nothing is more exciting then getting the first letter of your name in chocolate - of-course during the years you try to be 'special' and swap from milk chocolate to white, but in essence it stays the same chocolaty goodness.

The 5th of december is approaching and I do miss the Sinterklaas decoration in the store windows and occasionally replacing your dinner with perpernoten & speculaas (it's in the wiki) just because you had to miss all those goodies for a whole year. Mind you 3 weeks after Sinterklaas you are still eating pepernoten because you bought a few bags too many....

Anyway my point being is that at this time of year I'm missing the Netherlands the most, Christmas is Christmas but Sinterklaas is something so Dutch only a true Dutchie will starting to get the 'feeling' around this time. So I think for me there is nothing left then watch the arrival of him by steamboat on a internet stream and hope my parents will get this hint and send me some goodies, yes I know subtle.

Besides all of this I am also having fun with my driving lessons. Yes, the lack of proper public transportation here in the UK has driven me to take up driving lessons again. Only this time I think I'm not that bad - my instructor had a few white knuckle moments when I had a bit of a relapse to the Dutch side of the road...I manage on a bike but a car was tricky the first few lessons. However Richard seems to be patient enough with me, which in itself is quite an achievement. So next time you are on the road better check that rear view mirror again, I might be driving behind you :D

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeee....

Yes another year has gone by - and to mark the occasion my sister decided that it would be fun to dress up her pet rabbit Bumper with a festive outfit. I'mnot entirely sure that she is very much approving the choice of her owners sense of humor, but oh well - I enjoyed receiving the picture :)

So my 28th birthday came in unlike last year I had my parents over to actually join the celebartion. I got hopelessly spoiled by them and David a.k.a. 'Bloke'. Gifts ranged from Guitar Hero 5 - which David still regrets giving to me since I have a tendancy to try and 100% a song by playing it 21 times in a row - and a lovely silver necklace and beutiful designer dress from parents.

David also thought the world was ready for me driving so I also got driving lessons, for all those in the Berkshire area, I will warn you when I go out on the roads :) For lunch I was taken to Jamie Oliver's restaurant in Oxford - http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/oxford
I must admit it was the best past I have had for a very long time and if you do happen to eat there try the anti-pasta starter plates, simply amazing!
For dinner we went to my favorite, The Crab at Chieveley - nothing can beat that place when it comes to seafood. I have had an amazing day surrounded with the people I love most - It was all very special.

After a few days off work - it was back again, some really nice things have gone live in the last few days. I love the London Eye Halloween site: http://www.londoneye.com/ - we did the Flash on the mainpage and the site overhaul. I'm very proud with my 'Blinky the Frog' :)
I love making those little Flash animations - Rachel did a very good job on the extra mouse over fog to compliment my area fog.... anyway go check it out!
Lot's of exiting stuff is incoming but more later ......

poladroid - family photo? :)

poladroid - family photo? :)
Originally uploaded by designcuriosities

Well I was doing my daily browse on Flickr - and I bumped into a Flickr pool called 'For the love of Lops'. Lops in the meaning of lop eared bunnies.

I saw this picture and I though this was the coolest family portret!
For your daily bunny fix hop to www.dailybunny.org

Busy, busy, busy - did I mention busy?

I promised to be good and post a little bit more, but who am I kidding :) Anyway a few updates on how life is going on this side of the world. This weekend I went to the Battle Proms at Highclere Castle, although the event is always great fun - this time the weather was just bugger.

It was cold and rainy and it took a good time before it cleared up a bit in the evening.

Due to the weather we did not have a Spitfire flying over for an air show, but the weather did pick up enough for some amazing fireworks! However there was enough alcohol to keep us warm :)

And believe it or not I was home and in bed before midnight... am I getting old or what!

Unfortunately in May me and a group of friends had to say goodbye to a friend of ours who went back to Malaysia after studying here in the UK for a few years. Priscilla is part of our kimono group and the 5 of us normally go out and about in kimono to eat sushi and be stared at by Japanese tourists in London.

So we organized a farewell lunch in Mitsukoshi - the food was amazing, pricy but amazing.

Afterwards we all ended up indulging our sweet tooth in Häagen-Dasz London. It was sad to see Priscilla go but at the same time another member of the Immortal Geisha Forums joined our group here in the UK. Her husband is in the military and is stationed in the UK.

Lyuba is now part of the IG UK team :)

Anyway here is my lunch 'Kitsuke' (Go google it)

I love combining modern with traditional! Sunglasses and kimono. The Obi I'm wearing is light grey with bamboo

embroidery on it, and a very funky looking kimono.

Now that I finally upgraded my Flickr to a pro account the shocking truth and amount of my kimono collection is shown. However I have been good and sold also quite a few items in the past few weeks, just to make room in my drawers - or David will go nuts :) More pictures of the lunch can be found *HERE*.

At work things have been pretty crazy! Been doing a lot of Flash work lately and here are some of my projects:

- Carlsberg Export - Flash Site

- 7-Up Natural Wonders

- London Eye - Suitcase game

- Benney Watches

And I seriously need to update my portfolio site since that has been a bit neglected.

However it is growing really fast and I am doing really cool stuff right now at work - however I'm longing for a proper holiday.

But in about 5 weeks David and me are flying to the land of clogs to celebrate my mums 65th birthday!

Speaking about work the guys in the office see me getting my packages from Japan every now and then - so they all challenged me to come to work in kimono one day. Well don't challenge me since I probably end up doing it :)

So that is pretty much it for now - I'm going to log into World of Warcraft and check out my new present ... a Teldrassil Sproutling. It was a present from David *love*

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 :)