Just want to let you know. There's even more for sale and there's still 50% off on all Shinzi Katoh goodies.

I also want to highlight some really cool things some really cool people have been writing about me. I want to thank Holly for this amazing article on Simply Stated "THE REAL SIMPLE BLOG" whoooo ... the mother ship has called me home. And I want to thank Christie from Bemz for the lovely "meet the judges" she did on me. Good vibes to end the old year with.

Are you ready for 2009? I am, I have my first set of three white doors and next week I can start to unpack some boxes and give some of my stuff a new home .. yay!

I want to wish everyone, south, east, north, west, summer or winter a very merry Christmas and already a beautiful inspiring 2009. It's going to be an exciting year. Try to dream and hope for all things positive. Because if we all say things go good, things do.

Unfortunately I have zero decorations to show as there are zero in my home. I'll be back in the new year with many exciting projects and pictures of finished rooms. We'll have such a lovely time this week and a half to complete a couple of home projects and to make things pretty. There will be plenty of Christmases left in the good home.

2009 will be all about "The Good Home".

Love,
Yvonne xox

Comment #32 is Samantha the winner of the book and the coasters.

And I picked another 3 winners and they'll get a set of coasters each:

#79 Cindy K
#176 Krystal
#229 Pauliina

Thank you all for competing and for your humble words and encouragements and birthday wishes of course. I've printed all comments and will keep them in a special place. I can't thank you enough for visiting my site and for all your support!!

Happy St. Nicolas day xox

Yesterday I finally received the second batch of my Blurb published book "The Yvestown Book - vol.1". I'm planning to make a series of little books all with different subjects. The first volume is titled "The New Old House" and shows photographs of my old house in The Netherlands. The second book I'm planning will be about my new kitchen and all the cooking I love to do.

The Blurb publishing thing is really cool and really easy to use but the quality of the books are quite ok-ish maybe perfect for someone less picky as myself.

This book contains 42 pages and hardly no text.

You can buy one directly from Blurb or you can buy a limited signed and numbered copy in The Yvestown Shop directly from me. Either way I'll earn a bit of profit.

I'd like to give one of the signed and numbered books away as a gift to one of you.

You'll also get a set of these crochet coasters I've been making. All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll draw a winner December 6th, on my 34th birthday, at noon CET.

Have a lovely weekend.

New in The Yvestown Shop - Shinzi Katoh Stationery!!

And as a special thank you, to all of you who've made this such a successful year, I've started my shop sale before Christmas. Go to the shop for a special Pre-Christmas Sale with 50% off on all Shinzi Katoh products and some of the Paumes book titles.

And now I'll shut up about my shop ... that's for now!

I didn't tell you yet but there's a fantastic brilliant beautiful new Paumes book out!

The book is really inspiring and as Paumes always includes great places to shop I'm really exciting when I go visit Charlotte in London next week. Maybe, if the achilles allows me, we can visit one of the shops - as we don't have enough shops to visit yet!!

As I always go a bit loopy when a new Paumes order arrives. It was so lovely today with the sun shinning over the brand new lovely smelling books - there's this great new book smell over the Paumes books and each time I open the door of the cabinet the books are stored in to get books out I smell it!! Go, have a sniff, they smell great.

Good news for the people who've e-mailed me and who I have promised that the Skruvsta Slipcover Pattern would be back in stock (soon, really soon, maybe next week ...) it's finally for sale again in the shop.

As far as my house goes I have to explain to so many of you who've asked me for photos, there's honestly nothing to show but mess. You have to understand (and I do appreciate you love the things I do) but the house holds 13 rooms, a kitchen and a conservatory. The last house update was in 1971. It was horrible when we moved in and it's even grosser now we took wallpaper off, kitchen units out and walls out. There's new electricity wires going everywhere, bare floors, dust, piles of dust, cobwebs and honestly I don't really feel like posting these images on my blog because they not make me happier. Also I do not like to photograph dust, dirt and derbies. I do post the occasional "how we're getting on" photo in my Yveshouse Flickr album but that's as far I will go! As from January 2009 I'll be able to show you pretty stuff again - and I'll make sure to smear it all over the blog because I quite had enough of all the mess. Thank you though for all your interest and compliments and lovely words, you're the best and you pull me through this dusty time. xox

Today the official press release went out for the Bemz "My Home, My Way" contest at the Bemz blog, It's a Cover-Up.

I'm one of the judges amongst these really great bloggers:

Leslie Webster from Apartment Therapy
Elka Karl from Casa Sugar
Frida Berglund from Husmusen
Jules Yap from Ikea Hacker
Helena Karjalainen from Room and Serve

I'd love to enter with the Bemz slipcover I bought a while ago but it's a great honor to have been asked to judge too.

I'm really looking forward to all the entries!!

I've decided to post an uncensored daily e-mail to Charlotte. Beware of the swearing and moaning.

Hi C,

Chat soon xox Yvonne

For those of you who wonder how my home is coming along.

And Charlotte replied.

I'm never really one who participates in competitions or who likes to gamble for money or stuff. I've never in my life been inside or near a casino, I sometimes buy a lottery ticket and fantasize who I'm going to give the money to when I win. I rather like to give than to receive and I love it when I make someone happy. Happy faces give me a trill instead of emptying a fruit machine.

But .... when I received my Cath Kidston order through Charlotte today (we cheated on postage) I went a bit loopy. I'm going to win that 500 quid if you like it!

For the first time in all my CK buying years (I think I alone made her rich) I received something free as a thank you. This beautiful bag I've been eyeing on an wanted to have but is sold out all the bloody time is packed with lovely stuff and was sent to me for free!! It made me cry, it really did. It's like adopting a stray cat you don't have a connection with but you really want to badly and than when she reaches out and licks your hand .... it's that feeling people!!!

So I opened a few boxes and found all my past CK catalogs. Got a notebook out, spread it all out on the table, answered all the questions and now I'm a bit CK drunk!

I still love her though after all these years.

I love when I get new stock in.

I also love geek things like JavaScript. They have this cool free rating script over at js-kit. I've used it for the shop and I would appreciate it if you could cast a vote so that Paumes virgins know what books to get first. I already did my voting :o)

I also love the new 'Retro Paumes' page, I just ordered a few to see if people are still interested.

There's a change in the shop's currency, it's changed to British Pounds. I also now need your telephone number as someone STOLE $95.00 from me (that's a lot for indie shop keepers). And there's only a 3 day shipping waiting time as from today. Thanks again for your business!

I always try to answer all my e-mail in a timely manner but sometimes I just can't make it. To all of you who are wondering if I'm fine, if the house is fine and if the BooBoo is fine ... yes, yes and yes.

You can keep track of the house over here if you didn't already knew. I know it's not a pretty sight, that's why I made a new Flickr account because I can't barely look at it in real time let alone that Flickr constantly reminds me how I have to do the washing up. It will be going fast as from next week because all the dirty jobs are done. I'm happy that as from today the house is free of men with red dusty faces.

There's finally proof that I actually live in this house and as Charlotte cleverly spotted, even more over here.

It's sometimes quite hard living like we do, especially now that my mum is here to stay with us for a couple of weeks. For example a couple of nights ago when we ran out of hot water again. My mother was the first to have a bath and she was lucky she still did get hot water. So by the time she was bathed, snuggled up and warm in bed I was standing in the bathroom washing my really dusty husband with a hot water kettle in a tub trug. Now that can be really romantic but not in my house and not when my mother shouted from the other room "can you be quiet because I can't sleep like this!!" Those are moments when I understand people who convict murders.

In general it's just really hard having a grown up mother. It feels like while she's getting older she behaves more like a child - a very demanding child. I sometimes wish I could say "shush" or "shut up" or "ok now you have to stop troubling me and do something for yourself for a bit" or just simply " if you do not behave this minute, no Kit Kat for you".

The Boo is doing fantastic. She's running, rolling in the grass, sitting in trees, getting dirty and fighting the neighborhood's stray cats. And all that just in the one hour that she's awake.

The kitchen is all newly wired up, has a new roof and this weekend the Bo will start making new ceilings. When they are done the plaster people can come in and after that I will kick in with painting and decorating. So some new stuff to show hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Oh and before I forget I haven't been posting much but I'm working on a rather difficult project for you to enjoy; "Yvestown Lifestyle" coming soon.

The Paumes books (or as Holly thinks I'm referring to my porn books) have finally arrived. Some of you were getting nervous but most of you have been truly superstars and were able to hold your breath and wait silently. Thank you for ordering from me, it means a lot to me as I really like to put books in boxes.

Children's rooms Copenhagen is of course yet another wonderful book. So many inspiring rooms and such lovely colors.

See this rug? It's been on my wists for a while but after seeing it in this room I must get it for my new studio.

I have a lot of boxes to send and I'll be doing that this afternoon. Do not panic by the sold out icon behind the Copenhagen book in my shop because everyone who placed an order before 18-09 will get their books hopefully after the weekend - that depends on how quick the post works. Do not hesitate to put in a new order because a new stash will be send to me next week. I have plenty of stock this time so shipping will be fast.

Thanks again for shopping with me, I can't say it enough so yet again thank you!!!

I have blisters on my feet, my achilles is now officially messed up and my abs are aching but all that for a fabulous weekend of getting together with blog friends.

On Friday night I went to the Decor8 Meet & Greet in Amsterdam where I got to meet Holly and a whole bunch of other great bloggers. At 20:00 people slowly started to drop in and by 21:00 we were with a group of 20 from The Netherlands, Australia and Sweden. It was a great lingo of Dutch, German, English and Swedish - Germduswedenglish. I got to talk to so many great designers and to the fun people of 101 magazine and got the opportunity to shower them with compliments how fantastic their magazine is.

It was special to meet Holy in person. As we do some back and forth e-mailing you never really get to know the person until you meet them and that wasn't a disappointment.

I also met Nina and I've missed her 5 minutes of fame so I hope I get to see that soon. We dropped her off at home and we got some time to do some chatting and complimenting the work of her boyfriend over at Omroep Brabant - yes we are OB hooligans.

Thank you for such a lovely evening. And add; there's good food at de Kroon.

On Sunday I went to Paris for the day to meet up with Kathleen of Liquid Sky Arts and PaPaYa. It's been 4 years since we last met in new York so it was time we got to see each other again. The Bo dropped me off in Brussels and from there I took the Thalys to Gare de Nord and one tube stop to Kathleen. We had a French breakfast in this cute cafe and walked down to the Seine because we both wanted to tour on a boat and see the Eiffel tower. That was basically our only mission: see the Eiffel tower, be on a boat.

We had ice-cream under the Eiffel tower and decided that we wanted to go up, all the way up!! As we stood in the lift to go to the first floor we both cried because it was such a special moment for the both of us as Kathleen told me that she asked her husband "if I die before I've been to the top of the Eiffel tower, you have to scatter my ashes there". The top was fantastic, because it was cloudy the clouds were so dramatic from up there and the wind and the cold ... just beautiful.

Because Paris is the most romantic city I couldn't resist posting this photo of two girls who wear glasses, met on the internet, cried in the Eiffel tower lift and are still friends after all these years.

Yay for bloggers!!!

I'll be in Amsterdam this Friday for a Decor8 meet & greet. If you want to meet me and all the others and of course the famous Holly, come along and have a drink with us.

You can read all the details over at Decor8. Bo will be there too, we can't unfortunately bring to Boo.

See you Friday!

I subscribe to Martha's a tip a day mails. Each day Martha tells me what to eat, what to craft and what for cookies I should bake. The pictures used in these e-mails are so lovely, white, crisp and clean just the way I like it. Martha doesn't know that I can't bake because I haven't got an oven, my house is dusty, brown and smelly and to make matters worse I do not have a kitchen roof in less than an hour. There's a mountain of dirty dishes in my improvised kitchen because the oil that heats our house was used up last night so I didn't have a bath either because there was no hot water. I can't shower because I'm scared I will slip and crack my head open and the shower curtains stick to my body and I hate that because I'm scared they are going to suffocate me, so I have to take a bath. There isn't one white, clean, crisp Martha room in my house anywhere.

My friend Femke told me that I can use a little bit more light in my kitchen and to take her opinion serious we did something today that will please her.

This is what my kitchen looks like now. Isn't it just lovely?

Do you want to see my old white, crisp and clean rooms? Go over to the lovely interview I did with Lisa from Pink Friday. And to Whitney's beautiful site where I talk about my desk - boy I miss white!

Thank you for all your sweet comments, e-mail and cards.

Now I have something to tell you that really excites me. Paumes is having a new children's rooms book out and I can't express how much I love these books. And because of that and because I'm really loving how great the book sales are going (and so are the Paumes people - thank you, thank you) I have an offer up for a limited time only.

And to make it really special, I have a gift for all the buyers of this fun pack.

Packs will be send out as soon as I have the books in stock early September.

I just had such an amazing tension falling off of me.

For the last couple of years it bothered me how my neighbors made so much noise that in a way it would be unfair to myself if I were to make noise so I kept awfully quiet. The Bo and I would whisper if we had something to share that we didn't wanted to share with the rest of the hood and basically we walked on our toes all the time just because we didn't want to go down in history as noise makers.

Today for the first time I found myself all alone in this big house, I already feel insanely happy in, and turned on my iPod speakers really, really loud and sang out loud to Kate Nash's Merry Happy and I just felt so utterly happy that I had to share this with you.

Read my post "I Don't DO Neighbors" to understand this post a bit better.

Oh and if you download Merry Happy don't forget to turn it on really loud and to join Kate in the Doo Doo Doo Da Doo Doo Da Da Da Doo Doo Da Da Da Dooooooooooooo oooooooo Da Da Da Doo Doo

I've made it! I'm in Belgium pretty much settled. I have to say that one adapts to a new home routine quite quickly. As the electricity network in the the house is quite a mess I can't do chores at the same time. For example when I run the washing machine I cannot hoover, do the ironing or run the tumble dryer. So I have to do everything in turns. Wash first, than dry and than do the ironing. I've been doing 3 days over 5 loads of laundry and saved all the ironing for today. The Bo is going to trigger the fuse box before the builders start this Saturday because I'm afraid we'll be out of power constantly if they use heavy machinery. Oh and we now have hot water - amen!!

We also mastered quite an organized living, as we do not have a running kitchen yet.

This is our current home plan. We set up an area to cook, eat, sit and work in the living and dining room. The office is under renovation as we found out that under two retro ceilings a true gem is hiding. It's a beautiful ceiling with 3D ornaments of birds and flowers. We're going to fix that up as the previous owners (we are the third owners of this house, the house is from 1896 so that's pretty unique) brutally smashed beams through the plaster leaving horrible holes. The piano room (the previous owner was a musician and kept that room for his grand piano) is currently our storage for stuff that needs to go to the cellar. And on Saturday the builders will start to work on a proper kitchen, a cloakroom and on the heating and electricity in the kitchen and conservatory.

This is what it should look like in a couple of months.

And this is how we are living right now.

I've made a temporary kitchen out of an old table and Bo hung a shelf for me because I can't go without a shelf.

And this is where we sat last night for the first time and watched Sweeny Todd on DVD - not such a great movie to watch on your first movie night in a new house. Beside that, great GREAT movie!!

Just a quick post as I sit in my underwear in the empty old house because we don't have hot water in the new house and took a quick shower in this house ... are you still with me?

in just 30 minutes I'm off to spend the first night of, probably, many nights in the new home. despite the mess, the old man smell and the poor condition the house is in right now I'm in love with it. I can't wait to turn it into something beautiful.

As from Wednesday, if the internet Gods are with me, I'll be back online with more time, renovating stories and photos.

The new old house and I like to say thank you for all the sweet comments you ever left us. I'll miss her dearly.

See you next week xox Yvonne

A month ago I was asked if I wanted to be in a Taiwanese D.I.Y. magazine and I thought "why not!" I gave this lovely interview and they sent me the result of the magazine pages in PDF, I'm going to get the actual magazine in the post. My first reaction was "whhhhaaaa, this is so cool" but I can't read it. For my part they could've said " Yvonne Eijkenduijn is a troll and her house smells like poop and you know that Bo is also a weird bloke with no hair". I hope they didn't say that.

I really think they have done a nice job because it doesn't feel like all the stuff on the photos is actually mine - the husband included.

Have a peek inside.

The girl in the wii photo isn't me but my friend Mandy.

I also found out through Victoria's blog that she's in the same mag.

Another thing I can't read but absolutely love is the new Paumes book, Recettes des mamans à Paris. It's a cook book and the images are as usual super lovely. You can pre-order a copy in the shop so I can order a whole bunch in one go. I'm planning to do that by the end of this month so hurry and get a copy.

In the ten years that the Bo and I are a couple we've moved six times, renovated two homes from scratch and lived for six months just out of one suitcase and a laptop and yet we're doing it again. I sometimes do not quite understand myself, because all this moving around is my fault. I honestly do hope that this is going to be one of our last moves.

The papers are going to be signed and the money paid on the 5th of August but we have been tackling the garden already for a couple of days. We wanted to get rid of all the ivy because they destroy the house. We also have a double garage and a brewery (the house used to be a brewery) in the back but we have to take them down because the ivy made the roofs cave in, plus it will give us a lovely garden. We also trimmed the willows of access leaves, we only have to do the grass but we're thinking of taking that out and planting new because we need to dig a tunnel for the gas pipe through it. And that's just the garden ...

In the meantime I've been starting little projects to distract myself from phone calls, car rides, meeting realtors, banks, plumbing and insurance people.

I really fell in love with this bird mobile over at Spool that I have to make one for my new studio/office. I also spotted the Park Slope by Erin McMorris fabric on Spool and absolutely love it.

I've started to make some birds with this fabric for the mobile.

I bought my Park Slope at the Fat Quarter Shop.

I've made these strawberry pincushions using this Martha Stewart template but made the leaves myself.

Yay, renovating will start in 3 weeks ... can't wait!!

***

Oops! Forgot to mention that you can download the free bird mobile pattern here.

Finally I can break the silence with some official news about my future!

About a week and a half ago we returned home from Sweden to realize (and accept) that we can't just make it financially to make such a big move. The companies in Småland Bo talked with are just too small to work with and because we only want to move to Småland and don't want to move to Stockholm we can't move to Sweden after all. It's still a dream we have, so one day we'll realize it.

Because this Sweden plan is been playing for a few years and because our focus was so strong on this big move we had to come up with a plan B in a really, really short time. But as things always work like magic for us, that wasn't a problem. On the day of the catastrophic news that our big yellow house was sold a newspaper with realty adverts landed on our doormat. As we have a NO un addressed advertising sticker on our letterbox we were quite pissed off that it found our doormat but after browsing the houses listed on the pages our eyes dropped on a house in Belgium, just across the border of The Netherlands for a ridiculously low price. So a week later we planned a viewing and were instantly in love. Just before we left for Sweden I placed a bid and when we returned home from Sweden with the sad news of us not moving there we closed the deal on the Belgium house. How odd is that?

As from Friday we are the official owners of a real gentleman's house in Lommel Belgium. You may think what's a gentleman's house. In The Netherlands (and the Dutch part of Belgium where we're moving to) they call a gentleman's house a house that's typically made of brick with a front door and hall in the center and a living room on one side and an office on the other side.

Meet our new new old house.

As we have to move out of our home on the 28th of August we're going to sign the papers for the new house at the end of July to replace the oil tank that's under the ground, and the heating supply for the house, with cleaner natural gas. We also have to build a new kitchen and cloakroom and after that we're slowly going to renovate the house because it's big and I don't want my husband in a mental home.

I did all the grieving already for not moving to Sweden in my time away from blogging and feel recharged, ready for a new adventure and for blogging about the new new old home.

Thanks to all for checking if I'm still alive! Yes I am but I really do not have the creativity in this unsettled time to blog. I strive to have something important to say each time I blog but I just can't find anything to write about. I feel like a bucket full of dirty laundry and that's not me. By the end of next week I hope we know where we are going to move to - arrrggghhh!

So in the meantime I got tagged:

• What time did you get up today? 8:00
• Diamonds or pearls? Pearls.
• Latest movie in a movie theater? Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix. Yes it has been too long!
• Favorite TV series? Lost.
• What did you have for breakfast? Two slices of German bread with cheese and a bottle of water.
• What's your middle name? I don't have a middle name.
• Favorite food? Indian curries, anything Italian and sushi.
• Which food don't you like? I don't believe there's anything I don't like, that's really my problem LOL!
• What's your favorite CD at the moment? Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim.
• What car do you drive? I don't.
• Favorite sandwich? A club sandwich.
• Which human traits can't you stand? dishonesty and bad behavior and manners.
• What are your favorite clothes? Sweat pants, vest and flip flops.
• If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Tokyo - Japan.
• Favorite clothing brand? Boden
• Where would you like to retire? The Lake District - UK
• Favorite time of day? When the Bo comes home after work.
• Where were you born? In Cuijk en St. Agatha - The Netherlands
• Which is your favorite sport to watch? I don't watch sports, it's boring!
• Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi Max.
• Soccer or hockey? Hockey.
• Are you a morning person or a night owl? Oh definitely a night owl.
• Pedicure or manicure? Neither, do not like nails.
• Any exciting news to share? Christie from Bemz wrote me today to ask me if they could feature my Bemz slipcover photo on their new blog!
• What did you want to become as a child? I never wanted to become anything because I never seemed to worry about that. I remember thinking how it would be cool to become snow white because those dwarves were awfully cute.
• Best childhood memory? Oh my dear I have so many! I've been having such a wonderful childhood. Maybe the memory of having lots of space to play and the freedom to explore the world and the outdoors without having petrified parents and without having such busy schedules these days and so many people around.
• Ever been to Africa? A couple of times to Tunisia because my mother wanted to escape Christmases just after my father past away. I think we've skipped 3 christmases in total
• Ever rolled anybody in toilet paper? No
• Have you ever been in a car accident? I've been in two major accidents. The first one I was on my motorcycle and my engine stalled on the middle of the motorway and the car behind me drove straight in me. I broke and dislocated my shoulder bone and my nose and bruised a lot of body parts - ouch!. The second one I was on the backseat of my friends car when he lost power over the car and we made 3 full car rolls, crashed a tree and ended up in a pond - we all survived but I was pretty messed up in my face and bruised all over my body.
• Favorite day of the week? Friday because I love the beginning of weekends and on Friday everyone seems to be in a good mood.
• Favorite flower? Peonies and Hydrangeas
• Favorite - Hot dog or Chinese food? Hot dog because I find Chinese food very saucy.
• Do you own a bike? Yes, a Batavus Delivery Bike and love it!
• Who was you latest e-mail from? Tania Howells about a Paumes books order :o)
• Where would you like to shop more if you could afford to? Just a shopping spree in London or New York would be lovely.
• Bed time? Late between 1:00 and 2:00
• Latest person to share dinner with? The Bo, we always have dinner together - or at least we try. We always sit down at the table and never in front of the TV and we discus our days.
• What are you up to now? Writing this post and after that I'll have a shower, watch a bit of TV and go to bed.
• Favorite color? Pink, red, blue and green with lots of white.
• How many tattoos? Zero!

Just a quick shop update to let you know that all late April and all May Paumes book orders were sent today!

I'm so sorry for the delay but, as I explained to some of you, Paumes is a small family run business. If they don't get enough orders to qualify for cheaper shipping rates, they have to save up orders until they have enough for those cheaper shipping rates. So sometimes shipping takes a bit longer. Most of you haven't mailed me and are superstars so I'd like to give a big THANK YOU for your patience. There's enough stock again for your orders - yay!!

The Box Letter Cushions will be back in the shop next week with new fabrics!!

I bought the bookends over at Velda's.

I've deleted yesterday's post because I don't want to turn this blog into www.yvonnemoansagain.com

Let's do something fun instead, do you want to go house hunting with me?

We really had our hopes up for this house.

It's an old nursery home from 1930. Way too big for us but as we are thinking of starting a Bed & Breakfast it would've been perfect. We've been mailing back and forth with the realtor because we wanted to undertake some inspections, get a good quote for heating and so on but it was a very bumpy ride with hardly no cooperation from the seller. Just a week ago we got a phone call that a couple bought it and now it's gone. This house was sold for only 42.000 EUR - can you believe it? In the end I'm quite relieved as I think there's some dodgy stuff going on with this property.

Ok so we are back on the hunt for another home.

This is a house I really like and I'm planning it in our property viewing trip in two weeks.

click on image to see more house

The Bo is less excited about it because the house, and another two, are standing on 8000 kvm ground. I don't mind that much ground because I'd be able to keep Shetland ponies again. We can also rent out the two other cottages. This would actually be perfect.

Than there's the Bo's favorite property, we're also adding to the view list.

click on image to see more house

I LOVE this one but it's in the wrong hood. I want not so much neighbors and space around me and this house is in the middle of a town and I don't think we should start a B&B here as I need all the room for myself. But still absolutely worth viewing it.

There are more houses but these two are definitely on the priority list right now. Both properties need a lot of work but we don't mind that. The second suits us better because it's a bit weird and we are both a bit weird - ha! But the first is so much better future wise. There's hardly a price difference only a location difference, home two is better located. It's hard isn't it, what do you think?

Work wise, the Bo's talking business with some cool sign makers in Vimmerby and he's busy selling his goodwill here to one of his colleagues. We are planning to start The Yvestown Bed & Breakfast so maybe next year you can come and stay with us for the summer or maybe for Christmas.

Claire got me all excited about this celebrity sighting thing so I'm going to play along.

About 3 years ago when we went to New York with the girls Giao and myself crossed paths with Ethan Hawke, his new (old?) lover and his kids. Giao and I were chatting, enjoying the sun and Central Park when Giao suddenly said "it's Ethan Hawke!!!" He was dead close we almost stood eye in eye. The first thing that popped in my mind was to run to Kathleen who walked just a couple of meters in front of us, and apparently missed crossing paths with Ethan, and tell her "there's Ethan Hawke!!". The next thing we should have filmed because Kathleen went nuts and ran after family Hawke, armed with camera, and took some paparazzo shots. A couple of hours later we met Rachel Ashwell in the park but we knew she was going to be there so that doesn't really count but I have this great shot of her anyway.

On my way back to The Netherlands, from that same trip, and only Dutch readers will know her I stood next to Loretta Schrijver waiting to collect our luggage. I so wanted to ask her if she could talk to the Bo on my mobile because he loves her but I didn't dare and kept it cool.

When I was about 14 I declared my love and my everlasting devotion to Donnie Wahlberg. I even picked my study year abroad to be in Boston because that way I was close to him - now isn't that romantic? Over the years I grew over it though!

Now at 33 I still have mad actor crushes and often dream about Edward Norton and Ewan McGregor. I've never dreamed about them at the same time but I honestly wouldn't mind. A dream filled with both Edward and Ewan is maybe even better than freshly shaven legs under clean cheats. It's like freshly shaven legs under clean sheets and my toenails clipped.

Just watch Ewan on Ellen ...

I think I've must have met so many other celebrities but to be honest I wouldn't even spot my own mother in a crowd. I'm not much of a people watcher. I love to window shop, watch trees, birds, buildings and other things that happen around me. Sometimes people call me arrogant because I haven't greeted them when they waved at me on the street. I just don't see them! Even if people honk I don't react because I always think they must honk for someone else.

Please play along because this is fun. Leave a comment with a link when yours is up.

Thanks so much for your well wishes. You can imagine it's a bit of a chaos in our heads. We kind of made an order of events we wanted to happen and selling the house was last on the list. So in a way we have to throw everything round and start all over with the list. But it's great of course and the new owners are super lovely people (hello Matthie and Joyce) and only super lovely people deserve this house - there!

I have some other great news concerning Yvestown shoppers; as from today I can officially announce that I'm up to date with all my Paumes orders. It's been a bit crazy but everyone should have or get their books by the weekend. Orders that were placed 4 days ago and up will get their books next week and as from next week shipping will only be 3 days - Yay!!

I've been placing a bunch of orders with the Paumes people this month and they are extremely happy business is going so well. So yay for keeping the Paumes people happy too. I've found a brilliant system with 'nails' from the post office. We've nailed (ha ha) it down to a 5 minute routine of shipping an order of 45 parcels to various parts of the world, now that's what I call fantastic!

The top 3 bestsellers are

1. Children's Rooms London
2. Ateliers de Filles 2
3. Paris Brocante

My favorite top 3 is

1. Children's Rooms London
2. Stockholm's Apartments
3. Stockholm's Ateliers

Also for people in Europe and especially The Netherlands, do not hesitate to e-mail me to place an order if you don't have the opportunity to pay with PayPal.

That's my shop talk for today, back to regular blogging soon. Thanks!!

... means 'so, in this way, like this' in English and the Dutch often use this word to express their feelings after they've finished something. Thus zo, we have sold the house and have a moving date for Sweden. We still have to get some financing sorted out to buy the property we want (can't show it yet because it may bring bad luck) and than it's exit Dutch life .. enter Sweden life. It's all a bit of a mess right now because we didn't expect to sell the house in just one week. The day after tomorrow we're going to sign the provisional contract of sale and as from September the first The New Old House is no longer ours.

Thank you so much for the many orders I've received this week. By Saturday (one day after my announcement) I was sold out and already had to place a new order the next day. Again I sold out two days after and placed my third order today. So please, please, please bare with me to get all these books to you. I've ordered quite a large new stock so do not hesitate to put in an order because those Paumes books will get to you and will make you extremely happy.

Today I've put my delivery bike to use and took the first batch of Paumes books to the post office. I was so scared that I was going to have one of these women put into hospital but it turned out to go quite well. I hate the women at the post office in my town. I call them tits, nails and grandma. Tits has big tits and always wears a tight t-shirt without a bra so I'm instantly focused on her tits. Nails doesn't know that Japan is not in the EU and has unsightly long (fake) nails with various art on it. Sometimes of the Empire State Building and the American flag and I wonder if she knows that there's actually an Empire State Building and that America isn't a part of the EU. Grandma is one of those women who successfully raised a bunch of kids and is bored because now that they all left home there's nothing else she can do. She's by far my favorite because she doesn't have an attitude. I can just about accept the fact that one doesn't know that Japan and America aren't part of the EU but than one isn't allowed to have an attitude! The path from the main entrance to the post office counter (this is a post office in one of those "we sell everything as long as it sells" shops) is quite long and sometimes when they don't have any costumers and I approach the counter I can hear that awful Coldplay song starting in my head and I hear them thinking "hide, hide, hide under the counter ... there sheeeeee iiiiiis!!". So yes, it's always a little party for me to go there.

Nothing else to report today, have a lovely weekend!

As promised a shop update!

I'm utterly excited that as from today you can shop for Jeu de Paume books in my shop!!

I'm starting off with selling new and newer titles but once I know if it's a success I'll be adding older titles too. I just can't tell you how much joy this brings. Last night when I was making the page I was grinning and giggling and the Bo asked me what was so funny and I could only say "I'm going to sell Paumes books" and he totally got me - bless him!

So please spread the word, the books are a little bit more expensive but the shipping much lower so I'm cheaper than Amazon.co.jp ... oh and add, it's in English and I have pink postal bags.

And yet another new thing in the shop - Scrap Sacks, have fun!!

I'm back from Sweden!

We always stay in hotels or B&B's when we go on holiday but this time we decided to stay in a cottage. Sweden is of course famous for it's beautiful holiday cottages and I found the one we stayed in after a long web browse. I'm not one for dirty seventies decor with previous guest odor. I was already brave enough to wear fungus slippers worn by god knows who, something the Bo refused.

This is Andersborg our home for the weekend. It's owned by Junette and Inge and they have 4 more all as lovely. Do you spot the curtains? It was just like being home.

This is the bedroom we used and it also could've been my house only not for the candles because I'm terribly scared of candles. I'm very energetic and move around a lot so I'm always scared I'm going to knock over a candle. Or like last week when I was at my friend Mandy's house I almost had my hair on fire. I was sitting on the sofa and she had this big tray full of candles in different colors and sizes (really pretty to look at, not to actually lit) next to it on a table and when I swung my head back Mandy shrieked and I even shrieked harder .... ooooh it was dead close!

Sweden was most magical this time because we saw a moose. I've never seen a moose before so if you want something to shut us up, put a moose on the road. Almost a minute after we almost hit her I turned and said to the Bo "what the hell was that animal about?". They are so massive, so impressive and so incredibly big and ugly but yet so beautiful. Apparently it's not very common for tourists to see a moose so we already feel we are true Swedes ;o)

We also viewed our dream house with the realtor on Saturday and we've decided to buy it. Tomorrow we are going to stick the sign the Bo made on our window and is our house officially for sale. I can not believe it but we might spend this Christmas in our new home in Sweden.

I'll be back with shop news tomorrow.

ps: I've also started a Flickr collection called "Decorating Family" in where I'm going to show you how my family and friends decorate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel like blowing kisses in mid-air. It's lovely reading all your comments and they definitely go in the memories book. I feel even more excited about the move now. I don't feel it's time yet to explain and tell why we are moving and why we are leaving The Netherlands because everything is still in it's baby shoes and I don't want to jinx things - superstitious me.

What I do want to tell is that the new shop is up and running. As I liked selling on Etsy I felt that I wasn't able to get to please everyone. Eventually the idea came to build a store where you can combine your own choice of fabric (within my selection) with your own choice of letters. This goes faster, is more fun and I can make your cushions fresh and they don't have to sit and rot in my boot room.

I have a special new shop discount on all the sample cushions so go get yourself a Box Letter Cushion pronto!

These two samples are traveling to the offices of Real Simple tomorrow. I'm so excited they are going to be used for an extra family edition this August. You should've heard the shriek I made when I read the e-mail they sent me. It's like the mother ship is calling me home.

I often get the question how I get the cushions to smell so lovely - this didn't occur to me but I think it's what we do isn't it, smelling something we've bought? I for example never put new clothing on before it's washed let alone new bedding or towels. I need to have stuff smell like me first. I'm a bit like a cat I think.

I use Robijn laundry detergent and Robijn Aloë Vera fabric softener. Robijn is an Unilever product and is sold in a lot of EU countries under the name of Comfort. I've checked the site and it's actually called Snuggle in America but they don't have the same products as we have in Europe. To top it off I use the Robijn/Comfort ironing water for my iron. Ooooh and for some good booty shaking check the dodamoves website. The Bo already danced around the study and can't believe they've used the phrase "feeling irie" for an ad in that context ;o)

I've been a really bad blogger and a bad blog friend. I've been so wrapped up with my own 'personal' things that I actually have forgotten that I keep a blog and that maybe the people who read my blog are interested in knowing what's up! Because there's a whole lot of what's up in my life at the mo.

A couple of posts ago I wrote that there is so much to tell that I don't know where to start well ... let's just start.

I told you we are moving, we still are only we're moving to Sweden. It's bloody scary people and for a while I was scared writing about it because there are always people who think negative and who want to play with your mind and tell you it's no good and you know what?, I can't deal with that stress. We have this plan, we believe there's a better future for us there and people should just be happy for us and that's it. That's also the reason why I've been so bottomless in writing this blog because I was bottling up this big thing and all I want to do is write about and and tell you how scary yet how exciting it is.

So the big word is out, we are moving to Sweden ... tomorrow?, no I think next year or in a couple of months. It all depends on finding the right house, selling this house and the Bo's business. But Eeeeeee, it's so exciting!! In two weeks we're going to view a property we love only it's big and neglected so it might be a bit risky. We're also learning Swedish because I want to be able to speak the language when we move there. I never really get how these people in TV shows like My Place Under The Sun do not speak the language when they move to Greece for example. They even buy houses using hand and feet ... they are buying a house or crying out loud!! I want to be able to read my gas bill. We have a two hour lesson a week from this amazing Swedish woman (hej Katarina) and we can already introduce ourselves and count to 1000 and tell you all about the Svensson family. But I don't think we'll get far with that information so we need more lessons.

We also have to get the Boo to the vet today for her rabies shot. It takes 4 to 12 months before they can see if the Boo made enough anti cells after the injection* so we really need to do it today if we decide to move early. And we feel sorry for her because she hates to go to the vet - I don't really get her problem because she's having a very handsome and sweet vet. It's also her seventh birthday coming Sunday (easter day) so we made her a special gift over the weekend.

Behold the BooBoo balcony or as we famously call it "Boos Balkong". We made this for her because she loves the windowsill but she doesn't really fit on it with her big flapy belly - boy it's so embarrassing but her belly actually flaps left to right if she runs. Now the running is something that doesn't happen often but believe me it's an ugly sight. The other day Bo overheard people calling her a big fat cat on the street. Poor Boo.

For Swedish readers (and for those who are interested) we are moving to the Vimmerby/Västervik area. Yay, we are moving to Pipi Longstocking's neighborhood. If you have any tips, things we should know, advice you want us to give, everything, anything is welcome.

I'll go back to blogging about my house, my new house (and country) and all the other things I love blogging about because I've missed it. I'll be still selling Box Letter Cushions and as from today I've opened my own "whip up your own box letter cushion shop" (I'll have this printed on t-shirts) so that you can design your own with the fabrics you love from my selection. There's also a lovely interview Mary Jo from Trust Your Style did over here.

Happy new week!

* it apparently only takes 4 weeks but Norway and Sweden are quite strict so they want blood samples of 4 months and up.

Today is the day for the first of hopefully many to come joint projects I'm going to host with my friend Cherry from the Cherry Menlove blog.

Normally I'm up at 6:00 to do my 100 push ups and my run around town but as I'm not a normal human being I was sleeping like a baby around that time. But someone called Cherry actually managed to blog a post at 6:00 this morning - that mad woman. So sorry, but I'm a little bit later.

Our first project is an easter bunny egg cozy and you can download the template here.

You can also find this template on Cherry's blog and you can, and should, join the Flickr group because we'd love to see what your cozy is going to look like.

I'm still going to make three more of these for my easter brunch table. And this is the little trick I've done with the ears. Cut the ears slightly bigger (about a centimeter) and stitch them inside out and turn and put them in sideways. Enjoy!

Oh and Marné do you spot the eggcup?

Shop update!

This week I'll be adding letters by the day so I'm not going to tell you every day ;o)

I've been in bed most days and if I wasn't in bed I was on the toilet or hanging over it. I thought I ate something wrong but it turned out to be a nasty stomach bug. Today was the first day that I felt I could hold down solid food again so I went to McDonalds and for the first time after watching Jamie's School Dinners I ate Mc nuggets without getting sick.

Although I'm really not one to be influenced by other people, I never dress according to the latest fashion, I do not drive a car everyone drives and for the love of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream I do not have a very standard decoration style, I'm really easily put off by something or I get superstitious while I'm not. For example when some woman on tv said that you always should greet a magpie for good luck. Oh my there's not a magpie un greeted in a ratio of 50 km. So when Jamie showed what goes in a chicken nugget, I didn't dare to eat one anymore. So I was brave today. They are really quite horrible but I think that's their thing like the bag of easter egg foam sugary things I ate on the way home. Boy I'm feeling sick now.

Also with shopping I'm terrible. You can so easily convince me and have me addicted to a good shop. I like everything, I don't even mind going to a hardware store. I know where to find and get everything. I'm generally interested in stuff.

So when Charlotte told me about LINNET I went a little bit crazy.

I did a very modest first order just to check it out and be cool and calm about it, not like C who did go crazy. But I so want to go crazy!

I so love how the Japanese decorate. I bought this Cath Kidston e-MOOK on Amazon.co.jp (via Victoria over at sfgirlbybay) and I was so surprised how they mix CK with really basic, clean and simple design. It's like a me and Sally mix!

I have to keep this in mind for the future home. I promised myself (and the Bo) that I'm going to find a home and not move again. So it's going to take a little while longer because this time I have to get it right.

Ah it's good to be back, to be healthy and to have so many great blog friends who tell me what to buy, where to shop and what to eat. Oh no I'm not AT ALL easy influenced ;o)

I Just want to let you know that I've updated the "how to buy on Amazon.co.jp" page. You can now find all the Jeu De Paume books I own with a direct link to Amazon.co.jp and to the Paumes page to preview the book. I've also included all the ISBN numbers.

There's also a link in the menu under patterns & projects for quick access.

I wish you fun shopping!

Late last night we returned home after a weekend reunion with friends in the UK. It was so much fun to see the faces of people I used to see almost everyday after not seeing them for almost ten years. Also strange that something that used to be so familiar and considered so normal still is although lives have changed. I loved it!

This is the lovely Worcester Cottage who made me feel at home for two of the four years I lived in the UK.

It's the home of Bo and Bob Wallace parents of Dean, Scott, Glenn, Russell and Sophie. It was Russell who became my friend and introduced me to his lovely family. Being in a country away from my own family the Wallace's sure provided me with all the things I missed and even more. I can honestly say that some of my most font memories took place in Worcester Cottage.

Although I explained Sophie that I never really blog about family or friends and how I hardly post photos of those special to me, I'll make an exception today because she so badly wanted to be on my blog.

Here are Glenn and Sophie in the kitchen of Worcester Cottage last Saturday night. They tried to portray the phrase 'Eat drink and be merry'. I think did they a good job.

Maybe I should blog about my favorite people more often because they surely are super fun. What do you think? ...

I promised so many times (via e-mail) to show how I go about my table stapling - it seems, one of my great pastimes.

So here we go.

These are the tools you need:

oilcloth
stapler
staples
measuring tape
scissors

Also a cloth surface is a must for easy sliding when stapling small objects.

This is what my table looked like before. It's an INGO table from Ikea. I didn't paint the surface because I'm going to cover that with oilcloth

Cut the oilcloth so that you have a couple of centimeters to spare on all sizes. First staple all ends with just a single staple to make things easier. Don't forget to pull it really, really tight.

Finnish stapling all around the table. Thanks to Bo for professionally showing us how to do this.

And here's the result, aaaaaah - Boxed Letter Cushions A for sale in the shop.

Just quickly want to let you know that Boxed Letter Cushions T, I & L are for sale in the shop.

And for those who bought the Skruvsta pattern or are thinking about it, I've started a Flickr group. I'd love to see your finished projects. Thanks!

I have been working on a few things for the Etsy Shop, things I actually made for myself during Christmas and enjoy so much that I'd like to share them with you.

First there are the Boxed Letter Cushions I've made. I love letters and cushions so this is a perfect blend. I've been working on simple letters only but I'll be working on round letters in the next month. I actually made a big Y for on my bed and snuggle on it when I watch TV before I go to sleep. The Boxed Letter Cushions will be for sale in the shop on Monday the 28th.

Second are the Scented Teacup Lights I've made for Christmas gifts. They're all vintage (used) teacups and come with rose scented candles in a lovely box wrapped in my favorite wrapping paper. They are for sale right now in the shop.

Have a lovely weekend!

Today I felt like some good carrot cake and made some Martha Stewart carrot cake cupcakes using the Japanese cupcake liners Marné sent me for our annual Christmas swap.

Regular readers know that I do not extremely stand out for my excellent baking skills but I keep practicing. Of course I read the instructions wrong and didn't fill the liners with enough batter so I ended up with teeny tiny cupcakes. Being inventive, and not want to waste perfectly tasting tiny cupcakes, I made cupcake sandwiches instead. I smeared cream frosting on one and stuck the other one on top and believe me, it's delicious!

Jugs by GreenGate
Mushroom bucket from Velda

I have so much to tell that I don't know how to tell it. Do you recognize that? There's so much going on that I just don't know how to put it in order.

I'm really excited about the products I'm working on for the Etsy shop. I think I've finally found something I love to make and love to sell. I have to think about a collaborate project I'm going to do. We're working hard on the attic because it needs to be done before next Friday because the carpet men need to get in. I'm also planning our big move, getting stuff done so that the house can go on the market and I'm trying to wade myself through all the mess that comes from the attic and is now living everywhere throughout the house. Did I ever mention I can't stand unorganized rooms ;o)

That's just some of the stuff.

I think as from next week I can show and tell you some but for now I just leave you with peaceful images of Boo napping and the new cushions I've made from my previous London loot because I actually could do with some peace.

Do not panic, this is the yvestown blog only I've done the trillionth redesign. This one is actually good because I'm working on my lists again and I found a nifty javascript to make listing fun. Boy it's almost quite sad how much I love lists. So that's new, so is the seasonal picture and the link to the shop. I've opened an Etsy shop and I'm going to put little odds and ends for sale in there over the next month. You can also buy the Skruvsta pattern in the Etsy shop. Talking about the Skruvsta pattern, how is everyone getting along? I haven't received any feedback and sold quite a bunch. I'm really curious because if it needs improvement I need to know. All your feedback is much appreciated.

We left for London on Wednesday morning because I got hold of two Spice Girls tickets and I wanted to shop at Cath Kidston.

The Spice Girls were absolutely insane, but in a good way. I loved it! The Bo never attended a 'girl band concert' and was quite overwhelmed when all the people in the crowd started to scream when David Beckham and the Beckham boys entered their VIP box. I thought the roof was caving in. Shortly after that the girls (uhm women) appeared on stage and the screaming went even louder. By the end of the concert the Bo's ears were ringing. I love him though, he's such a good husband for hopping along with me and attending Spice Girls concerts and Cath Kidston shops.

We were supposed to drive to Bicester and Whitfield to do some more shopping and to visit the parents of a friend but the wheel house of our car was playing tricks so we drove back home instead. We actually drove back in 5 hours!! That's a record for us!!

Each time after I've visited London I want to not move. I don't really understand my own problems anymore. I have a roomy home, quite a nice patio, I'm in walking distance of all the shops without having the actual hassle of people shopping in my street, I live in the greenest town of Europe, only 15 minutes away from two large Dutch cities and still I'm complaining while all those Londoners are living like pack rats. It's weird isn't it? I also really appreciate my own rooms more. Like last night when I found out that our shower cabin is actually the same size as the bathroom of the hotel room we stayed in.

I also always want to paint the outside of my house yellow or light blue and have a little gate when I've been to London. I think the day that we paint our house yellow we'll make it to the local paper. There'll be a big headline "house owners are losing their minds" people will pass our house and spit on our stoop, point fingers and try to convince the town's welfare committee to force us to repaint our house. And you know what? I'm not even making this up.

I'm going to work on my lists this weekend. It's quite a lot and I want to get everything up I love so I hope to be finished on Monday. Have a good weekend!

The Future belongs to those
who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Have a dreamful 2008!