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'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.

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? ...

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!

Bullerbyn

We just got back from a lovely trip to Sweden. This time we visited Småland and it's definitely my favorite part of Sweden, but I said that before. It really is such a magical part of Sweden I can't describe it. Even in winter with everything covered in snow, it's magical. Maybe it's because Astrid Lindgren lived here and left trails of things that were so important in my childhood such as Bullerbyn getting alive or actually touching Pipi's lemonade tree. For the first time I set foot in Lönneberga and although it's not the place Emil i Lönneberga was actual filmed, it felt like it.

Astrid Lindgrens Värld

The highlight of this trip was definitely Astrid Lindgrens Värld in Vimmerby and not just because everything is "too cute" but also because we were the only visitors in the park! We felt like two crazy kids running around because we were having everything for our own not knowing where to start.

Lotta's House

The Lovely girl who worked there even had to push the button to the new Seacrow Island ride for us alone. It was mental but so much fun. I think I never giggled and ooh-ed and aa ah-ed that much about something so childishly silly. I loved it!!

Lotta's Room Left

Lotta's room inspired me so much and I almost felt a little at home when I entered the room they created in the yellow house Lotta lived in.

Lotta's Room Right

Makes me really want to paint something blue in my house.

I can recommend Småland in winter because there are zero tourists, well just two crazy people without proper winter clothes from The Netherlands.

We're back from a mini break to Sweden and we had a lovely... loooovely time. We went to visit Gästrikland this time and it's so far my favorite part of Sweden. We did a lot of driving around (1350 km) and we did a lot of egg eating. My dear, I've been eating an egg for breakfast a whole week and my stomach is really upset. It's a holiday thing isn't it? I never eat an egg at home but when I'm on holiday I can't seem to get enough of them.

I really envy all the people in all the lovely red and yellow homes I've passed the couple of days and I hope to join them one day.

Sorry for checking in at yvestown over the weekend and finding it's gone. How awful is my host for forgetting to invoice me to renew my domain name?

Last weekend I went to London to see Equus and to meet with Cherry form the Tales From Pixie Wood blog. I was a bit anxious meeting Cherry because it's like a blind date only with a woman who's interested in the same things and who's also a blogger. Cherry and I met at Liverpool Street Station and we hit it off straight away. My God that woman can talk, add that with another woman who can talk and you get this really crazy scene. We talked everywhere and we took talking stops. On the tube escalators, on the stairs of Cath Kidston on Marylebone High Street, at Wagamama, in the lobby of the hotel, it took us hours to get from one point to another because we had so much fun and so much to talk about. We only shopped at Cath Kidston where I picked up the fabrics (with 25% off - thanks Cherry for showing me that scrap basket) and I bought that crochet teapot cozy in Covent Garden the next day. The beautiful embroidered scented heart with my initial on it (my only one) is a gift from Cherry. You can find more of her goodies here. Cherry is absolutely someone I want to meet over and over again and - she knows what I'm going to say next because I only mentioned it about a 100 times - she has amazing teeth!!

Later that day I went to see Equus with Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe. I was so lucky to be on the second row. The play was amazing and I want to see it again. I have heard it's not sold out yet so if you're in London and you want to see a play go to Equus. Daniel Radcliffe is amazing for such a young actor and Richard Griffiths is just scary for how good he is. He acts like he's talking to you and I think that's brilliant. One silly thing that occurred to me is that Daniel is having really big feet for such a tiny chap. And the thing they say about men with big feet isn't true LOL!!

Good to be back!

FYI: cherry blogged about our meet up here.

We just got back from our trip to the UK. We planned a "I really want to do that before a die" trip. Bo wanted to see Stonehenge and I wanted to visit the homes of some of the Bloomsbury people.

Our first stop was in Firle, Lewes to visit Charleston farmhouse the home of Duncan Grant, Vanessa and Clive Bell and their kids.

It was something really surreal, taking a step into their living quarters all left intact. We were only allowed guided tours on Saturday but I didn't regret that really. It was lovely to be in each room with a group of six people and to be told about these fascinating people. It was such excitement to enter a room that each time I gasped. Especially when we entered the studio of Duncan Grant, it made the others giggle. It was just so beautiful and so weird I almost cried.

The stone construction around the fireplace above were set up by Maynard Keynes. Charleston used to be a very drafty house and this was the only way to keep the fire going. The painting in the oval circle used to be the home of a mirror.

After Charleston we drove to Monk's House in the village of Rodmell the home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. The National Trust only left the downstairs rooms as they were when Leonard and Virginia lived there and the upstairs rooms are tenanted by patchwork artist Caroline Zoob and her husband.

This is one of the rooms dowstairs painted by Virginia in a beautiful green color with fabrics designed by her sister Vanessa Bell.

Caroline and her husband also maintain the garden of Monk's House and Leonard's vegetable patches. They also sell the tickets and the booklets in the main entrance in the beautiful conservatory.

There is something so fun about visiting other peoples homes. Some may call it curiosity I call it interest, finding new inspiration. It was a most special weekend.