It was September 2009 when Nina and I met Ingrid for the first time and on that same day Nina gifted me this plate, known in my home as 'The Nina Plate'. I've been meaning to photograph it and send it to Nina, to show off, for ever and never got around to do it as 1. I've been living in my car for the past few months and 2. because of bad lightning.

Today I got my hopes up as the sun is out and she makes my kitchen so bright and shiny. That's why I devote a blog post to 'The Nina Plate' and show off my new kitchen cupboard doors I'm dead happy with. Later today they'll have glass too as I can now just grab everything inside without actually opening the doors, but you can't see that.

I'm off to play around in the kitchen a little more. And also in my study as we found some amazing old tiles for my fireplace ... oh and ... crap the sun is out, I must go outside.

Will be back more often, I promise and try to keep away from the car ;o)

Ever since the R word (recession) it's been awfully quiet in my mailbox (the non-virtual one) and I miss it. Not that I'm greedy and want free stuff but it's just such a nice gesture. I believe that when you give you will receive, but giving has been hard for a lot of us and I'm happy things are slowly getting better.

So when I walked in my office building last week and a big brown envelope was waiting for me at the entrance, I was quite excited to find The Farm Chicks in The Kitchen book inside with lots of recipe cards, stickers and lovely messages. My readers know me so well because I LOVE this book. It's ME written all over it, I want to be a farm chick!!

I can highly, highly recommend it. Thank you so much Serena xox

I did a swap with Nina the other week because I was swooning over this cup.

It's a great cup for holding pens, flowers and it even goes with Cath Kidston bowls. You can buy a whole bunch of great stuff in Nina's Etsy Shop and she really does need the money.

Thank you Nina :o)

I've been pampered by my online friends this month.

Kathleen sent me the beautiful cards she designed for Papaya. Sally sent me the beautiful pencil cup, a new Martha and a new magazine I found out about, Organize, but Sally and I both agree that it's not worth buying. Thank you girls, the cards match the pencil cup so well that I have a bit of a problem separating them.

I've found Tamar's enchanting blog a little while ago and I've been visiting ever since. I bought one of her dream catchers in her Etsy shop. I hung it on a glass door in the kitchen and it's lovely. Thank you Tamar!

And last, but definitely not least, is Charlotte's package of utter happiness and Christmas cheer. I didn't photograph the box because I was too eager to unwrap everything. Charlotte wrapped all the goodies she sent me in brown paper with string and added a little note to each package. To see the whole loot click here. She also made me the two beautiful bags in the picture above. I absolutely love everything she sent me and I really appreciate her thoughtful notes. Awwwh sweet Charlotte.

I'd really appreciate if you click on all the links I've included because they take you to great women and their great creations. I feel I live a full life knowing these women.

"I think I need a cup of tea the world keeps turin, Oh what a day, what a day, what a day"

Do you know that line in the Erykah Badu song On & On? Well I felt like that about last week so it wasn't "Oh what a day" but rather "Oh what a week".

I've been away most of the week, fixing little silly things. Sorry to be so vague but when it comes to Bo's projects I can't tell much online - you know what I'm talking about, it's not his blog it's mine. It's sometimes really hard not to let myself go because there's so much more I want to write about but it's so off topic. I keep a homemaking blog not a political blog not a current affairs blog not a my sister is a cow for not telling me about an important meeting blog and most of all it's not a blog about a mad woman ranting.

It's a crazy world sometimes people, even for me. Some people might think that I wake up in the morning and everything is perfect. Let me assure you it's not. I do smell like death birds when I wake up and, for crying out loud, you should see my hair. It's actually possible for a little bird to nest up there. Things aren't always perfect and they don't have to be always perfect. And believing thinking that it always rewards me.

Like at the end of last week when I returned home from the awfulness and finding this lovely stack of pink and white in my postbox.

Sally and I planned to swap Moo cards ... and a whole bunch of other stuff. The Moo cards are actually so overshadowed by all the goodness Sally sent me. I couldn't resist to oooh and aaah out loud each time I opened yet another bundle wrapped perfectly and addressed with a little teaser sticker. Sally really is the queen of detail!! Beautiful!! Sally is opening her shop soon, read all about it here.

I just love how she used my two favorite colors, green & pink, all over this swap mixed with beautiful white.

Thank you Sally!

PS: those HORRIBLE IKEA LAMP comments made me giggle, thanks so much for being out there for me!!

For most of my life I've been hating it to have a birthday in December. You should know that the Dutch celebrate two gift exchange holidays in one month. On the 5th (one day before my birthday) Sinterklaas and between the 24th and 26th Christmas. As a child I used to be buried under presents in December but the best gift - having friends on my birthday - never happened. I used to have early January or late November parties instead. It used to be a month of mixed emotions and I've always been depressed about it. Until I started to let it go a couple of birthdays ago and I'm loving it. I now have a new found "I don't care if you don't come round and have cake" mentality and I love it. I feel free at last!!

So it was a surprise for me how thoughtful and giving people were this birthday. I even received guests for cake. My parents in law were really generous this year and I bought a dollhouse with the money they gave me. I also bought stuff for the dollhouse with the money my mother gave me. Honestly I'd give everything back to just have both of them on my birthday but that's just not possible with a globetrotter like my mum and people that have issues like my parents in law.

Blog friends were generous too this year. Marné sent me lots of goodies seen in previous posts (I used it all for Christmas decorations). She also sent me the two snowmen in the top picture, magazines and POPTARTS!!!

Kathleen sent me this beautiful handmade pin, I'm now wearing to keep my pashminas snug. Visit the Liquid Shop for more beautiful goodies and wrapping. She also sent me this fabulous suitcase.

It's good to know that I have found friends that consider me adequate to play with toys for ages 3 & up. That gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Thanks girls!!

Most laughed at:

• The Ricky Gervais Podcast
• De Lama's (Dutch TV show)

Important questions learned:

• What is the best life possible for you?
• Stick with your old friends and value them

Most useful item(s) bought:

• Apple MacBook
• Moo MiniCards
• Pom-Pom maker

Happy New Year!!

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Thanks to Marné again for the chopsticks and magazines as a part of the 2006 Annual Christmas Swap. More seen here and here.

I simple can't explain what interior magazines mean to me or how much they mean to me. Most say it's a piece of paper with pictures but to me a magazine is like a journey. I love traveling to other peoples homes and gardens. I love tips on keeping house or improving my cleaning skills. I make it a little sport to remember all the names of chair designs and their designers names. Whenever we enter a designers outlet I love to quote; "oh look at that gorgeous Rar by Eames" as if I were to impress the Bo LOL! We also spend most of our income on things for our home. We don't smoke, drink, club or indulge in any other dodgy stuff but we love to home shop. Our neighbors are always quite concerned when we walk in with yet another piece of furniture and walk out with yet another piece of furniture that we believe should go. They never really dare to ask what we're up to and they must think by now that we deal in furniture.

You can understand how exciting it is for me to participate in a mag swap. I did one with Leslie a couple of months ago and recently one with Kristina.

Look at my loot.

Of course Leslie sent me Martha and Real Simple amongst two boxes of Pop Tarts (I can't find them here in Holland - arggggh) and all lovely Paper Princess goodies. And Kristina sent me Danish magazines I absolutely love.

Look at this pom poms blanket in one of the mags. I'm going to make one for the new guest attic, whenever that's done.

And this interior inspired me so much. I simply love all the white with the bright accessories, very me!

Thanks you Leslie and Kristina for letting me travel a bit beyond my own home.

If you ever feel like swapping with me, please let me know. I'm always up to it only not around Christmas because that's the one month I swap with Marné and we just established to make it a tradition. I love Christmas traditions!!

Kathleen of Liquid Sky Arts organized a music swap.

This is my first music swap ever and how I love it. I haven't yet received the other CD's but I sure loved making mine. It's hard picking music though. I like so many different styles. I'm not a "just country girl" or a "just blues girl", I love it all. It's hard for me to mix soft rock with reggae and punk with hip hop because, as always, I like my things organized. So I made two CD's, one for jumping and one to listen at.

This is the link to my iMix. You need to sign in to the Dutch shop - argh, complicated but if you're a diehard you'll know how to do this.

I sent my copies to:

• Susan
• Ulla - isn't that a beautiful name?
• Cori
• Leslie
• Kathleen

Thanks to the lovely Jane from Posy for sending me a Cath Kidston spring/summer 2006 catalog. I love everything in this catalog and I love the new layout. I hope one day Ms. Kidston is going to reward me for all the free advertisement I'm giving her.

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Oh and Reese ... she did it!! I'm in love with that movie. I went to see it with the Bo and I even, one day, hopped on a bus and went to see it myself again in the middle of everything I was doing. I had to drop it and go see it!! Beautiful performances by both Reese and Joaquin - what a shame he didn't get one.

Marné and I had a late Christmas swap because we were both so busy last month. I always LOVE swapping with Marné because she always knows exactly what I want without knowing it. I was having the Lightning Bugs fabric and the carving blocks on my wish list - do you spot the letter Y? And look at that mini knitted jumper :o)

Last October in New York I bought a big fabric pink letter B at Anthropologie for the Bo. The girls made fun of me because I bought my husband a big fabric pink letter B. one doesn't always have to buy something ugly looking just because it's for a man. Some men do like big fabric pink letters B or T or S. Ha ha - it's on his nightstand now and it looks really sweet.



The cool thing about the metal letter Y Marné sent me is that I now have my own "masculine" letter on my nightstand. Yay!!



Thank you Marné it was a fun swap!!

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I'm also really excited about Leslie's Gifty. It's been such a long time and I always really enjoyed it. I hope I'm on the list!! And Whip up, I can't wait to see that site in action.

Thanks so much for all the lovely birthday wishes!! It was a good day. We celebrated my birthday by going to London last weekend. My mother gave me tickets to see The Lion King in the Lyceum Theatre. It was AMAZING!! We also did some shopping and we visited the Cath Kidston shops on Marylebone and Covent Garden - oh I always love the Christmas decorations in Covent Garden!!



Two of my favorite blog friends, Kathleen and Leslie, sent me lovely birthday goodness. Kathleen sent me the housewives tarot card set and the beautiful bird tags and Leslie sent all the other fun goodies. I love those gloves, they are just perfect!! Thanks so much girls :o)

I've been a bad blogger but it's been so busy. I'm almost on track. Christmas cards are sent ... tree decorated ... bathroom painted. I'll be back to blogging and blog reading again soon!!