Schrödinger's moods.

It's now less than three weeks until Nettie and Christian come to visit. I am alternating between insanely excited, and panicking about all the clearing and tidying I still have to do.
So yesterday, whilst knowing we're trying to cut down on our junk, we picked up some stuff from my granny that she didn't want any more, and then we went to Ikea.
It's all useful stuff (well, mostly), but still...

We're replacing what I described to Nettie as the 'big horrible plastic thing' we have in the bathroom. It's ugly, it's too wobbly to actually store much in, it looms over the whole room, and what's in it currently? Toiletries that I have been given as presents at one time or another, and never used, and a couple of bottles of conditioner.

Please note that all our other toiletries are sitting next to it. Well, what's the use of that, then?
So it's gone now.
Much better, don't you think?

We also set up our batch of raspberry vodka.
Hopefully it'll work.

And we've done some scrubbing of patches of damp in the bathroom, and we've done a bit of clearing in the spare room, and we've I've done a whole bunch of washing up, and Matt's done some laundry, and we're really feeling very domestic today. And excited. Don't forget excited.

Weird and wonderful things we saw in Amsterdam.

Public art.



Arthur Van Schendel is unamused.

Hehehe...

Booby pirate!

Random painting.

Reflection.

Street performers.

Sort of lens antlers public art.

Graffiti!

More graffiti!

Random ladybird tile.

Disturbing mascot of a hotdog stand...


Pigeons having a fight over litter.

Really cute graffiti.

Some graffiti is the same world-wide, it seems.

Cool advert.

Cruel graffiti.

Gardenboat.

Giant bear.

Cool elephant hand rail.

Scary elephant boat mascot.

Airport pirate (and Matt).

Amsterdam, part three.

On Monday morning, we sadly packed up, and set out.
We dropped our bag in the storage at the station, then went for our complimentary boat trip. In one of the Dan Dare boats!

We sat out the back - where it was open - despite the cold.
The boat set off round the harbour, then up one of the canals into the city.

This is the best houseboat EVER!

And now for lots of pics of canals and houseboats and pretty scenery...







After our little cruise, we set off around the city again, as our flight back wasn't until the evening. We found Hermitage Amsterdam, which had a rather impressive exhibition of paintings by Picasso and Matisse and so on. I loved it, and Matt was rather bemused by some of the more Cubist ones.

And then Matt was on a bridge.

We then headed up to the FOAM photography museum. Fascinating stuff, especially the Vrolik Collection (info and some of the pictures at the link. Probably not suitable for the squeamish - medical science anomalies).

From there we went to Rembrandt's house. Beautiful. It was really interesting to see how he lived, and where he peddled his paintings (one of his front rooms), and there was a guy there showing people the methods of etching and printing that Rembrandt would have used.

After that, there was time for us to do a last bit of wandering about before heading back to the station.

The most awesome bike I saw, I think, in the time we were there.

This house made my eyes hurt.

Gorgeous architecture...

Garden in the middle of the city...

Windows full of globes and plants...

And most of all, bicycles!


So we picked up our luggage from the station, and set out for the airport. Everything was going well until our plane was delayed for two hours. There's really only so long you can play I Spy in the airport at night. We eventually got on the plane at about 11.25 (Amsterdam time), so we didn't get home until 1am our time. It was worth it, though.

Style Guru, part two.

So, allow me to hark back to a previous post for a moment.

I am still really getting involved with my clothing. It's pretty new to me. Not clothing, obviously, but this... well, I suppose it's this enjoyment of it that's new.
I mean, I've always liked certain styles of clothes, but now I find myself actually seeking out articles about them. I realised on Saturday night that two of my great style icons are Penelope Garcia from 'Criminal Minds' and Marianne 'The Rotund' Kirby. Ok, so one's fictional and the other isn't. But they both have such wonderful and FUN ways of dressing. And I think that's what has finally clicked for me - that it doesn't matter what you wear, providing it makes you feel good. And that wearing, say, my studded ankle boots and my studded wristband make me feel really bad-ass on a day when I am otherwise sleepy and just trying to get through work.


Or that wearing ridiculously dangly neon pink chandelier earrings, or my purple leopard-print tights (as seen in my Style Guru post) make me feel kitschy 1970s glamorous, even when waiting for the bus in the rain.


Or that wearing my 'Minnie Mouse' skirt, with its polka dot sash and netting underskirt, or wearing my 'confused bunny' necklace (adapted from a keyring) just cheers me up.



I think part of this new-found delight is due to my having found a whole lot of lovely websites and articles that celebrate people's unique stylings.
I love 'What I Wore Today - In Drawings'.

And I recently discovered 'Worn Fashion Journal', which seems to be how I think of clothes. No 'this is by a designer, so you should wear it' nonsense. Just people talking about how they like to express themselves sartorially. I adore it.

So... yeah. Whilst this may be another mood of my legendarily fickle creativity, I'm enjoying it.