What the postman brought us....

I am always, always in tears when we get a letter from the biological mother of my Vietnamese daughter Maia Dinh Thi Phuong.
Really, I do have a bound with this mother of my first child!
I am touched by the pictures: she looks so good like her mother, my sweet eldest child! It convinces me again that one can never ever deny the background and roots of your adopted child.

EURO WEEK Feature : Judit from Budapest

Today I am introducing my sweet friend Judit (aka Vadjutka) Find her beautiful Etsy shop here.



where are you from?
Budapest, Hungary

-give a tip for a cool place we can't miss if we make a trip to Budapest.....The flea market! I love it: you can find everything there from clothes to amazing vintage finds.
Here is a teaser on my blog:

- name a popular artist from your country we just have to learn to know.
Kistehén Tánczenekar – they are kind of an alter group: little bit folkish using elements of gipsy music. Also, their lyrics is very funny. This one is my favourite.


- what is a typical dish of hungary.
Typical dishes in Hungary are the goulash - gulyás leves in Hungarian – and it is a soup not a stew, Chicken Paprika which is Paprikás Csirke in Hungarian, but my favourite is LECSÓ, which is a kind of Ratatouille, buti it consists of tomatoes, paprikas and oninons and some meat only. I love it and I can eat a lot of this!
Here is a recipe.

describe you style of creations:Bohemian, urban, romantic.

find the beautiful jewelry line of Vadjutka in her Etsy shop, where every piece of jewelry has its own personality. Just as humans do. She believes, that one day every piece will find its best owner, with whom they match perfectly.

A new haircut for my happy gang of 4 :-)

We all had a new haircut today, and so does mommy (but she is behind the camera :-)

Europe and Etsy

Fleur de toi necklace
ok, you already noticed: It's EURO week..... on Etsy
Euro sellers will be featured, Euro creations will be on Front page of Etsy.
Etsy, which is mainly an American Website, has so much Euro sellers and customers too! Etsy has now an office in Berlin(Germany) and will promote the 'Etsy handmade online market' in Europe.

During this Europe week I will feature some of my European friends
and I have a special promotion in my shop too!
With every purchase in my shop you will get a set of these 3 cards: (value $10)
Belgian customers can send me an email if they want to pay by bank account.

Japanese Garden earrings in Sterling Silver

La Soleil et La Fleur vintage button adjustable ring


Ophelia loves spring copper necklace


Queen of Sheba earrings in Brass

MONDAY MOODBOARD

Colorful Afghan Blanket by Atelierafra from Turkey
Upcycled mobile white circles by Babongo from Holland
Screenprinted and painted ooak shawl Hanni By Birribe from Sweden
Butterflies by Aliette from France

YAY IT'S EURO WEEK ON ETSY!
In the following moodboards you discover lots of Beautiful EURO creations!



If you want to create a moodboard of your favorite European Street Team Designs, make your mosaic and add a link to your blogpost (NOT your blog please) or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture).

shopping fever

One day is way to short to shop in Amsterdam. I am so lucky that mister hubby is so patient with me when I am in a shopping mood. Well, it was not about clothes, but more accessories and Design, that made it somewhat more bearable for him! haha!

Not to forget: I got some great tips from Maartje (Mamutopia) who is an inhabitant of this cool city.

Seeking for the 9 straatjes we discovered the Moooi designshop of Marcel Wanders.
Not really design for my wallet, but a great showroom that gives you many ideas for your own home. (His shaker stools are on of my all time fav's) I show you some inspiring pictures I took, in a next blogpost.
Not far from the Anne Frank house we found this original shop (a tip of Maartje), a cabinet of curiosities, really my kind of thing! ( The otherist, Leliegracht 6)

There I discovered the work of Swedish Karin eriksson, simply gorgeous!!!!

They even had my beloved brand of handbags of Robert le Heros.

But I bought this(3 of my obsessions in one: paper, scissor cutting and Japan) :-)))
(this is a picture of the finished wave, in fact it is DIY paper box)

Another cool tip of Maartje was the Haarlemmerdijk where I found Restored , a shop to my heart with lots of handmadedesign and repurposed stuff.

I saw these ladies and their shop before in 101 Wonen, a magazine I never buy but always borrow at my local library :-)
I will show you some pctures in a next blogpost.
It was typical Belgian weather: sun and rain, sun and rain, and while hiding for a rain shower we could take a look in this bag shop. A shop to my heart, because everyting is made fair and ethial (in Changmai) (you can find this brand also in Belgium at Tantejojo in Leuven).


and then: het grote avontuur
Hubby has a lucky smile on his face, haha, we can't take big things like wardrobes and drawers because we came here by train!! But I did bought some furniture, and will show it soon (in a next blogpost :)
Lots of vintage pottery here, sweet 'baby good luck shoes', teatowels with reprinted 60's illustrations and the well known 'gouden boekjes' but I'll tell you more about them later...

So far a bit of my shopping trip. Of course we visited a few musea today,
and also ate some yummie things I want to show, but well, that is for tommorrow!
see you then!

My friday Night outfit....in Amsterdam

Padma dress by Cocoorico
Tpuch of gold earrings by Fleurfatale
Ms Essential bag by Iragrant
Oriental chic vegan slippers by thegeneration

One of my most favorite kitchens is Japanese (sushi, yakitori, miso soup, soba noodles, and sashimi on top!).

Back in my twenties I was a loyal follower of Makrobiotic, at that time I learned a lot about Japanse kitchen and ingredients.

To find good and not to exclusive ( or say expensive) Japanese restaurants in Belgium we have to go to Antwerp (which is definitely not in our backyard). :(

So you bet we were very happy to find a yummie and affordable Japanese restaurant in Amsterdam (where we are right now!)

And that is why I made a Japanese inspired Friday Night Outfit... (back in my hotel room)

don't know why, but to me the outfit has a Japanese touch! (maybe the slippers do it?)

See you soon with more love from Amsterdam :-)