02
Sep 10

My childhood pyromaniac

While looking for some old documents on my external harddrive, I came across a folder called Animator. In this folder, I found a number of extremely short video clips. They were called things like elden.flc (the fire), larven.flc (the caterpillar), bildåre.flc (car lunatic) and, best of all, mordbran.flc (arson, but minus the last letter – remember the time of eight letter file names?*).

They were all animations made in October 1992 – at the tender age of eight – in a DOS program called Animator Pro. Let me say that again. They were made in Nineteen-Ninety-Two. Eight years after I was born. Can you believe that?

Here’s arson:

MORDBRAN.flc from Malin Hanas on Vimeo.

* One thing I cannot understand though is how bildåre.flc can have an å in the filename. DOS never allowed the Swedish party-letters åäö in file names, right? I must’ve changed that way later to ensure that the word kept its proper meaning.

Crafts / Digital — 2 comments

01
Sep 10

My whereabouts

Three weeks ago. Went on holiday to Sweden. Wore the dress. Met family. Picked blueberries while not wearing the dress. Kayaked around an island.

Came back.

Left again. Arrived in London. Worked in London. Hardly left the office in London. Ate most of my meals with chop sticks in London. Bought four tote bags that I’m going to turn into mindblowingly awesome pillows in London.

Took the train down south. Walked into a forest with two kids. Wild black horse appeared. Wild black horse led the way. Wild black horse walked alongside us for a while. Wild black horse ate leaves. Wild black horse followed us. Walked into next town. Had dinner. Left England.

Came back. Went to work. Worked. Today arrived. Left the bike and walked home. Made smalltalk in Dutch. Found a chair. Left chair untouched. Went back for chair. Carried chair with me back to the boat. Checked the mail. Got a fantastic handwritten letter. Made dinner. Read the letter. Took the chair out on the terrace.

And then I re-arranged the little terrace garden for what felt like hours, until darkness fell.

I’m home.

Gardening / Life / Travelling / Vogue dress — No comments

15
Aug 10

The dress in action

In the Swedish woods (yes, I’ve been on holiday).

Hattifnattskogen, Ängelsberg

No further comments.

Travelling / Vogue dress — 1 comment

04
Aug 10

Vogue dress done

And so it’s done. In the end it turned out a bit too big despite all the measuring and pinning, which is why you get those ugly ruffles on the side.

The Vogue dress

And yes, I do need to iron the hem some more and yes, the fabric wasn’t supposed to be that see-through… tough shit.

(Also, I don’t have grotesquely short legs and shoulders that big; it’s the perspective. That’s why I cut out my head which looked a little bit too much like a balloon up there.)

The Vogue dress

It’s… nice, I suppose. Even though I always feel a bit let down at the end of a big sewing project. It’s not what I imagined it to be, really. (Because of course you imagine it to look like in the picture and if the picture is a fashion sketch from ‘53 it’s never going to look like in the picture). But it’ll have to do. Would be a shame not to use it after all the hassle.

And sometimes the disappointment fades away and gives room to pride as soon as you start wearing things in public.

Sewing / Vogue dress — 4 comments

30
Jul 10

Starting to look like a dress

I should get a degree in pinning after this..! The skirt was obviously no less tricky than the bodice… I’ve fitted and re-pinned this thing so many times I’ve lost count now. But, all good things come to an end and now the pinning on my right side is actually getting close to something I can stitch after.

The Vogue dress AFK

Keep your fingers crossed that I’ll manage to a) copy that pinning onto the left side and b) stitch it together that way, and I think we have a dress folks! (Who cares about details like hems and buttons…)

PS. Also, PhotoBooth as your only option to take pictures is such a hassle. Note to self: When your phone-and-camera gets stolen, start working on how to replace it…

Sewing / Vogue dress — 1 comment

28
Jul 10

Grebespotting

Remember handsome Mr Grebe? I got really excited today when I saw a juvenile great crested grebe swimming about in the canal. Never seen one before, actually. I wonder if it’s his son?

Probably not, but I’ll decide now that it is. Yeah, it’s definitely is.

Welcome to Keizersgracht, young Master Grebe.

Birds — No comments

27
Jul 10

Bodice breakthrough

I didn’t tell you this, but the Vogue dress has been on silent treatment.

After meticulously pinning every seam on the bodice and adjusting it after my own measurements, the disappointment when I tried the thing on and it didn’t fit was immense. I even made extra darts. Extra darts!

The fact that I was supposed to put bloody boning in there didn’t make it better. I’ve never even seen boning outside of a garment before (hello, I live in the present) and then I was supposed to just seamlessly (well, metaphorically speaking – literally, there were a whole lot of seams going on) integrate that into the lining of the bodice that refused to fit me no matter what I did. And after that ordeal came a totally out of place ribbon that seemed about a meter too long and made the whole back piece undulate inwards.

Thus followed a couple of weeks of not even wanting to look at the disgusting heap of white fabric that was my dress in the making.

However, a break can do miracles for the most stubborn piece of sewing – especially since the problems 99 % of the time are down to the human factor or my own sewing (dis)ability. I spent an hour and a half this afternoon thoroughly investigating the bodice – pinning, adjusting and re-pinning my little creation over and over again with the patience of a caring mother.

And all of a sudden I think I cracked it.

Doesn’t look so bad now, does it? For a pinning, I mean.

Bodice

Bodice

Now I just need to stitch the bastard and we’ll be back on speaking terms :)

UPDATE: And done! Praise the Lord! The bodice is now in one piece, only the buttons and a bit of hand-stitching on the ribbon left, which I’ll leave until I have a skirt to go with it.

Sewing / Vogue dress — 2 comments

26
Jul 10

Brain buzz

My mind’s buzzing like a beehive. Some thoughts are flying around angrily, discontentedly, frustratedly looking for their time and place. Others are drowsy like the Queen Bee’s drone lovers, waiting to be called upon. Yet others are quite agitated, filled with inspiration and new ideas, constantly changing and hard to keep track on, gone if I don’t catch them at once.

To make anything at all out of any of it, I need some structure.

Tomorrow.

I shall structurize.

Life — No comments

22
Jul 10

Scarf from skirt

Hello and welcome to the second ‘zOMG look at me I’m so creative’ post of the day! So, I bought this skirt at the H&M sale because the fabric was that kind of bluey greenish tie-dye-style mishmash that have been my favourite colour combo since forever. Unfortunately I never liked it as a skirt.

I can’t find a product photo of it and forgot to take before-pics, but this is the fabric, silky soft polyester.

fabric

Anyway, I thought I’d make it into a circle scarf since it was already an actual circle of fabric, just with elastic in one end. So I removed said elastic and ironed it and now it’s like having my neck wrapped in the ocean… yo.

Circle scarf

Crafts / Sewing — 1 comment

22
Jul 10

P(r)etticoat

Ever since I made the apricot skirt, I’ve been thinking I need a cute white petticoat to go with it, to let just a hint of white lace pop out underneath the hem (and just maybe also to make my bum a just a hint less visible every time I pick something up).

American Apparel has a really nice one. Pro: ready to put on and is available down the road. Con: costs €70. Seven O! That’s 35 bottles of cheap South African wine, folks*!

American Apparel petticoat

So I found an old one at Episode for a tenth of the price and decided I’d shorten it. In its original shape it was just a tad too granny-like.

Episodel petticoat

Plus the length totally didn’t fit with the apricot skirt.

That looks retarded

So I decided to just cut off a big chunk in the middle – a perfect way to not have to redo the upper hem and elastic.

Scissor sister

And voilà! An hour and 3 faulty seams later (blame that on hasty measurements) this is what I had. Adorable, innit?

There we go

Together with the apricot it shows a perfectly innocent half centimeter of old-fashioned white cotton lace. Sweet. Bring on the Betty Drapers, I’m good to go!

Cute overload

(Well, except I really should replace those hooks and eye on the back of the apricot skirt with a proper zipper. But that’s another story.)

—
* I am of course referring to Mooi Kaap, Albert Heijn’s number one bottle for cheap wine connoisseurs like yours truly and the definition of bang for the bucks.

Sewing — 5 comments

18
Jul 10

Weekend away

Since my phone – which is also my camera – got stolen a while back, I have to be satisfied with showing you on Google Maps where I was over the weekend:
screen-shot-2010-07-18-at-72445-pm

And that today I biked from there all the way to Haarlem, where we took the train back to Amsterdam.
screen-shot-2010-07-18-at-72537-pm

However, that doesn’t tell you anything about how we biked on the wet sand all the way from Wijk aan zee to Timboektoe (the beach club, not the African city) in the sunset, and how I almost failed to notice how breathtakingly beautiful it was because my breath was literally already taken by the ridiculously hard cycling, the wind against us and the wet mud clinging to our tires.

It says nothing about how it felt when we made it there in time before the kitchen closed and finally had our hot dinner, or about how lovely an itchy wool blanket can feel on the skin when night had fallen and we were still sitting at the Timboektoe terrace, looking out at a black North Sea in the cold night.

Further it doesn’t say a thing about the rolling dunes, the rain showers and the sun, the happy faces of friends knackered from surfing, the jumping up and down in the waves giggling like a child, or the ever-present industrial doom’s day beauty of the Corus steel factory.

(It does provide a sufficient map, though.)

Travelling — 1 comment

13
Jul 10

Play time

Piano tonight! My teacher has asked me to pick two songs that I’d like to work on. No matter how much I’d l-o-v-e to play Great balls of fire like Jerry Lee Lewis and finish with setting fire to my piano, I seem to prefer the rather lame option of dramatic classical music when it comes to actual playing.

But due to my general lack of knowledge of classical music, I’ve managed to pick two who aren’t meant to be piano solos from the beginning.

They’re both kind of awesome though, and I’m looking forward to trying them. In month or two you can expect me to have reached the same level as the Gifted Children of Youtube (TM).

Piano — 2 comments

12
Jul 10

The feel-good factor

I just came back from my weekly yoga class after a three week absence. It was amazing, as usual. I feel totally hippiefied and harmonitastic, at peace with the world and myself.

In sports, I’ve always felt I could’ve done better if the clumsy thing that was my body hadn’t been in the way. I thought of it as a gloomy outer appendix to my obviously very brightly shining inner self. My terrible coordination, horrible balance, shameful sprinting power and fairy-like strength were all the proof I needed that my body was my own worst enemy.

(Well, except for skiing, where my courage grabbed the arch-enemy title with a knock-out, as my mind always said no long before my knees could. If it wasn’t for my stubborn dad I’d still be standing on top of some mountain looking down with a worried frown.)

With yoga, I feel none of this. I find myself soaked in sweat, fighting to keep my breath under control, doing some kind of one legged splits with my hands linked behind my back as the toe of my other leg nestles into the crook of my elbow. And it just feels great. It makes me feel as one; inner and outer, together (as I said… hippiefied).

Not convinced? Let me paint copy-paste a picture.

In the first episode of British TV comedy Black Books, this guy Manny (played by Bill Bailey) swallows The Little Book of Calm, somehow absorbs it into his body and becomes this Jesus-like figure full of calm.

Manny

That’s how I feel, right there.

Aaah *halo*

Life / Yoga — No comments

30
Jun 10

What about the blog?

It’s been quite empty here, again. Luckily I don’t have any readers, so I don’t have to worry about such mundanities.

I’ve been out and about again, this time in beautiful France. First I went to Cannes during the first two days of the Cannes Lions, you know, the international advertising wank-awards which I’ve always detested yet also always dreamed of attending and winning. (Always in this case meaning since autumn 2005 when I first heard of it.)

But I didn’t have any work competing and I also didn’t have a ticket to the actual festival, so my first Cannes was quite different from what I had imagined: instead of standing on a stage with Toby juggling lions, I spent most of my time lying on the beach or drinking expensive rosé with my bearded boyfriend. Which isn’t exactly a bad way to spend a few days in the south of France.

Then I took the train to Paris for OFFF (”International festival for the post-digital creation culture”), where I met up with Toby, Vinky and Bas (although half my twitter feed and my piano teacher were apparently also in Paris over the weekend).

The weekend is a blur of all sorts of interesting lectures, a few quite boring ones and a few totally awesome ones, far too little sleep, far too much sun and heat, baguettes in parks, wine by the Seine, lovely people, and a much laughed about tray.

In a few days I’ll be off again, this time to Germany, but in the meantime I hope to update you about the progress of the Vogue dress, my new-old bike and some things I learned at OFFF.

Travelling — 1 comment

18
Jun 10

My other right

LOL, I’m retarded.

I decided to proceed with the petite bodice, thinking that worst-case I can always gain a centimeter from seam allowance. All good. Since this is my Proper Sewing Project with a Proper Pattern and Proper Fabric From A Store, I’m making sure I follow every step properly. So when it says to pin the buttonhole interlining to the right front bodice, I know myself well enough to double-check. Which one’s right again? I shake out my hand to an imaginary stranger. Hi, pleased to meet you. Yep, that’s definitely my right side.

So I proceed with the most distinguished crafting of hand-made buttonholes (no quick fixes with the machine here, we’re following a 1953 original). When I’ve carefully stitched the little squares I notice something weird in the pattern. They’ve chosen to illustrate this phase with a picture of the left bodice.

Wait…

Their left is my right. Right?

I put the piece of fabric to my chest. Damn. It’s absolutely, definitely covering my left boob. So the bodice must’ve been upside down when I picked it, which makes the right one the left one when turned right. Gah! See? It is confusing!

Right and wrong

And so I silently decide to make a fashion statement and wear my buttonholes on the left side like a man.

(Sidenote: Theories about why that is tradition are quite amusing. One is that women were dressed by maids, and men by themselves. Here’s an interesting little read on the subject, ending with a completely different conclusion.)

Sewing / Vogue dress — No comments

18
Jun 10

A petite dilemma

Although I am far from what in the sewing world is called petite (short), my waist happens to be placed a few centimeters higher than normal. The reason I know this is because I’ve read books about fitting for sewing, telling me in detail every way I am deviating from the norm (great reading for teenagers, highly recommended).

Anyway. Sewing patterns mostly have foldlines for length adjustments, or for petites as it says on the pattern. (Grandes, feel excluded.) With my abnormal waistline in mind I folded away a few centimeters, and went ahead with the cutting.

Now I’ve pinned the darts on Part 1. Bodice, Front and I have no clue whether I actually did the right thing or not. Is this where the dress will end up? Is this my waist? Did I cut out too much (and in that case, thank god for idiot-proof safety margin)? Shall I go ahead with this, or cut out new bodice pieces and start over? Internet, help!

Hands!

Sewing / Vogue dress — 2 comments

18
Jun 10

In your face, Vogue

Guess who sat down on the floor after piano class this evening and cut out all 16 pieces of that pattern after carefully altering it for that tailored fit? Uh-huh. Yours truly.

Oh dear, I’m so pleased with myself right now.

If you’re not a sewer (haha, I said sewer!) you might not get it, but trimming the pattern and cutting out the pieces doesn’t exactly take five minutes. It takes concentration and precision, and above all, a very strong back because you’re going to sit down on the floor bent over your fabric for hours, literally. Mine’s a wreck right now. (God of Sewing, please bless me with a cutting table when I grow up.)

Below: look at that lovely white mass. Damn, do you know good it feels to be old enough to afford a largissimo idiot-proof safety margin whenever I buy fabric? (Ehrm, despite not being grown-up enough to get a table.)

White fabric

And this is me, exhausted, with the cut-out pieces in a neat little pile. Notice the difference in lighting – two and a half hours passed. Oh, and sorry for that hint of skin, I couldn’t stand to keep my jeans on when squatting for so long, kills the back of my knees.

Pile o' pieces

Here’s a bonus: Fashion – make it yourself. If there were emo’s in the early 80’s, this girl would definitely have been one.

DIY emo

Poor girl, she’s totally depressed about making her own fashion. But maybe we can blame that on the 80’s.

Sewing / Vogue dress — 1 comment

17
Jun 10

The video I should’ve posted yesterday

Because it is the only video about business cards you should ever watch.

(reminded by Toby)

Work — No comments

16
Jun 10

It’s business time

New business cards for our freelancing dynamic duo Stockholm-Uddevalla just arrived from Moo today. The packaging is totally awesome and deserves a step-by-step photo rundown!

Open them. Quick!

To: WE, From: LDN

Really? You guys!

Box, opened

Our cards in full glory

Me me me me me

Woohoo! Isn’t that beautiful! Now we can go to Cannes Lions and OFFF Paris in style, and hopefully get some new business in. You know what time it is? It’s business, it’s business time!

Work — 3 comments

15
Jun 10

Colours of summer

Every time I get back to the boat on my own, I have a little ritual. I squeeze my way between the badly parked car and the 80’s racer bike tied to the lamppost to see how the wisteria is doing. Then I slowly walk towards the porch, inspecting the beach grass, the fading daffodils and the mauve. I check the mail, hoping for something for me. Then I walk over to the other side with the snailmail spam under my arm. I say hi to my little oak. Eye the ivy. And finally, I round the electricity cabinet to check the furthest pot, the one with the honeysuckle and the cerise ones I’ve forgotten the name of, just next to the gray wooden boat to the left of us.

Sometimes it takes me ages to even get to the front door.

And sometimes, I only walk in to walk out the other walk, onto the terrace, to check that everything is alright out there as well.

White

Cerise

Pink

Yellow

Another shade of pink

Das boot / Gardening — No comments

09
Jun 10

The end must be near

Christ almighty, check out the weather.
Hello rain

Other — 2 comments

09
Jun 10

Election, baby!

Today it’s the Dutch general elections, and I’m very pleased to see my Facebook newsfeed is already starting to sport Ik heb gestemd status updates. Now, I don’t actually know that many people who are eligible to vote, but it’s no surprise I also have friends on Facebook who I don’t actually know ;)

In any case, I’m always happy to see people exercising their democratic rights. Sorry cynics, you’ve got nothing on me here – to quote Britney, I still believe! (I’m already looking forward to my own chance this autumn at the Swedish Sailor’s Church in Rotterdam.)

During my week in Rijen and Breda, I tried to get a grip on the present election, but I’m afraid I find it all a bit confusing, what with the previous government collapsing in February and all. Wiki-p says:

After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the PvdA [Partij van de Arbeid, Party of Labour*] ministers on 23 February. Members of the CDA [Christen Democratisch Appèl, Christian Democratic Appeal] and CU [ChristenUnie, ChristianUnion] replaced the ministers who had resigned, and have continued as a demissionary cabinet with limited powers until the elections. The 150 seats of the “Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal” are being contested, and will be filled using party-list proportional representation for a nominal four-year term.

PvdA’s leader Job Cohen is the former major of Amsterdam, and he did great at that, I’m being told, but doesn’t seem ready for the big, ehum, Job *drumroll*. Being the old hippie that I am, I thus turned my hopes to the small party GroenLinks (GreenLeft) and checked out leader Femke Halsema’s speech on the election gala in Paradiso yesterday. A bit like Groucho Marx, I came to the conclusion that since I could understand most of it, it couldn’t be that substantial.

(Basically she just talked about values ‘n shit, which is all fine and dandy when you’re preaching to the choir, but a bit more problematic if you actually want to convince more pragmatic doubters.)

Anyway. Whatever the outcome, I’m excitedly following the progress of this Facebook count-down, sorry, count-up and feverishly liking every Ik heb gestemd status I get across. It’s election, baby!

Heb jij gestemd?

* Swedes, check out the rose they have for a symbol! Looking familiar? It’s almost like the International really does exist or something.

Life / Nederlands — 1 comment

08
Jun 10

Happy birthday Lisa!

Continuing yesterday’s theme, I’ll dedicate this blogpost to my life-long soulmate Lisa. Today she turns 26. I’ve known her for 24. The last quarter-century have been a blast – let’s repeat that for another three, shall we? :) ♥

And, again continuing yesterday’s theme, I’ll treat you with another strange sight from the strange occasion that is Swedish graduation from upper secondary school, but this time 3 years earlier.

What on earth?

Yes, everybody puts on sailor hats and all the girls wear white. Then we get drunk. The above picture is first and foremost a testimony to the latter, I believe. Lisa and I are having some kind of especially intimate moment (no, not of that kind, naughty!), and watching classmates seem as clueless as I am today as to what’s really taking place in front of them.

Life — 1 comment

07
Jun 10

Happy birthday Marie!

Today is the birthday of the world’s best sister. 22 years old and already a constant source of inspiration, enthusiasm, support, löve and PURE AWESOMENESS! ♥ ♥ ♥

A treat for my readers: here’s one family jewel of a photo, the Hanås clan (Clanås, as I like to say, even though I admit it’s better in Swedish) merrily celebrating Marie’s graduation four long years ago. Level of drunkenness is following age order.

Mwah!

Life — 3 comments

07
Jun 10

Snailmail

Snailbox
We’ve got a new neighbour, but he’s sharing our number.

Das boot — No comments

03
Jun 10

New game, new name

As my two-month sabbatical is officially over, the premises for writing this blog no longer exist.

However, it’s been fun in all its humbleness, and I like the writing exercise. Thus out with the two months in the title, and in with a question. What about the What? Is there no more What now that I’m yet again available for hire as a freelancer?

Oh yes it is.

Let’s keep whatting! There’s no reason to stop trying new things just because you occasionally go to an office. There’s no reason not to make that Vogue dress in time for that wedding, and no reason not to go there and speak Dutch all day. There’s no reason not to enjoy birds and bees on the terrace or pack my bags and go off for a few days or get my hands dirty and finally build that compost.

Or the million and one other things I could do.

Life / Sabbatical — 3 comments

02
Jun 10

The bearded bird

My biggest disappointment during my week of learning Dutch was that I couldn’t explain what bird the great crested grebe was.

– You know, it’s got a red beard and it dives, I tried.
No luck.
– A beard around the head, like a lion!
– A swan?
I was obviously at the wrong place for bird trivia.

Now I looked it up, and can sleep at night again. It’s a fuut, or kuiffuut, any Dutchie with excess knowledge about river birds is welcome to tell me the difference.

(I only see handsome Mr Grebe once a month or so, and I always get really excited when I do. My sister tells me I’m becoming our dad. I suspect I just have a thing for ginger beards. Or bearded birds – I always like to dress my male friends up as chicks.)

Birds / Nederlands — 3 comments

02
Jun 10

Yes! but no!

The fearless nesting duck is back on the terrace! (Fearless in this case meaning brave but most of the time scared shitless.)

Our landlords told us she’s always nesting but she never manages to keep her brood alive. She must be so jealous of the happy coot family right across the terrace. That’s heartbreaking. But creds to her that keeps trying! *getting all teary-eyed* *bird-emo*

Nesting duck

To cheer myself up I also post a picture of the beautiful yellow roses hiding atop the pile of logs at the front.

Yellow roses

Birds / Das boot / Gardening — No comments

02
Jun 10

Sabbath breakdown

Three months ago I sat down and made a plan for my sabbatical. On the list was five main points: sewing, writing, learning Dutch, eco-nonsense and achieving general clarity about the future.

Did I sew? Well, yes. But not nearly as much as thought, which has to do with the fact that I was basically traveling the whole time except for three weeks. I have to say, though, that it’s pretty well done to manage to make a pair of shorts, a circle skirt*, another skirt and a bra thingie during three weeks. What I didn’t make was the stunning Vogue dress. How about the promised mending of all my ragged clothes? Uh-oh. Two pairs of jeans and a pair of slingback heels fixed, a dozen garments left in an Albert Heijn-bag under my desk constantly calling my attention.

Success rate: 4 out of 5

Did I write? I kept the blog. And I analyzed my headlines very thoroughly! Other than that, nada. But I do feel it’s made a difference and I really enjoy getting back into a daily bidaily ok, weekly habit of jotting some words down on paper the internet.

Success rate: 4 out of 5

Did I learn Dutch? Staying a week in Rijen and topping it off with beers in Breda, I surely advanced. And I’m very motivated to keep learning.

Success rate: 4 out of 5

Did I eco? Not really. Which is a shame. I even broke my promise of not buying any clothes as I fell for a Uniqlo cardigan in New York. I’ve still got plans on that compost though!

Success rate: 0 out of 5

Did I achieve clarity about the future? I decided in favour of Amsterdam. I want to stay here for the time being. It’s taken me a long time to admit that to myself, but I’m happy with the little things in my little life right now, and I want to enjoy it while I can. That still doesn’t mean I know a thing about my working situation or what happens with me and Toby, but I’ve stopped worrying (well – again, for the time being). Which counts for quite a lot in my case.

Success rate: 4 out of 5

What about those lovely travels then? Yes, I have to add this extra point. Jamaica was – to use a very cheesy Swedish expression – like balm for the soul: blue waters, green hills, lush jungle, smiling people, warm breeze, good food, road adventures, and of course spending more consecutive time with my brother than I have since we lived together. England was also stunning natural beauty and great food, but then paired with indie music, motherly care and a happy dog. And New York was the big city, not at all as uptight and hurried as I’d imagined it, catching up with Toby over fine wine, singing karaoke in Koreatown, nauseating performance art at MoMA, a failed busride on Staten Island and the final realization that when I went back home, I went home.

Success rate: 4 out of 5

Which leaves us with the conclusion:

Success rate: 3.5 out of 5

Fair enough!

* The coral-coloured skirt actually turned out so good it attracted the attention of one of the MoMA security guards in NYC, forcing him to awkwardly small-talk to me about art for several minutes before he confessed “I just wanted to tell you you’re so beautiful”. Well done, skirt!

Crafts / Eco / Language / Life / Nederlands / Sabbatical / Sewing / Travelling / Writing — 3 comments

02
Jun 10

Oops

So, eh, well, the sabbatical is up. Forgot to mention that yesterday. Will write a concluding blog post about it very soon – and of course, decide about the future of this blog, whose promised two months are also definitely up – but now I need to call my grandparents and see my accountant. Tot later!

Sabbatical — 2 comments

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