tomorrow.

Tired. Bad day. No time.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Oh my god, shoes.

Rayme is in Amsterdam!!! We had breakfast together at the place Gerbrechje and I went to last week and I told her about waterlooplein (they have an awesome daily market) and some other things to do. Gladly, she loved the market and my directions were correct.

While Rayme was out discovering the awesomeness that is Amsterdam, I finished the garment and made some shoes. We're going to finish them all tomorrow and I really want a pair. Richard, if you're reading this, I would love for you to save me 2 front deer legs :-)

Rayme at the Nieuwe Markt.

Dinner at a Thai restaurant in a Dutch way.

Off course we went to a coffee show. Come on people, this is Amsterdam not Denver.

I am very sleepy so you'll have to do with that. Welterusten!

America finally wins one.

So I had a busy and fun-filled weekend. I went with my awesome grandparents to de Hermitage Amsterdam. It's an extension of the 'real' one in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Netherlands has a good bond with Russia dating back to the marriage of Anna Povlovna of Russia and William II of The Netherlands. They had an exhibit of Orthodox religious art. It was a really nice museum. Afterwards, we walked around the market on Waterloop plein and made our way to Het Munt.

Illegally taken photo. I wanted you guys to be able to live it.

I came across another Bansky! (at least, I'm pretty sure given he has an obvious style).

Krissy, this one's for you. It's a bad picture but you get the idea.
I bought it for the apartment George and I will be living in come  August. It lights up the houses
when you put a candle in it.

So hideous and wrong that it's awesome.

That night I went out with Pim, Fleur, Sisca and Patrick to De Kroon in Amsterdam. It was really fun!

Sunday I went to visit Kim, Kees and Thijs in Aalst. Off course the trains had to take an hour detour because of construction but it was worth it. I got to see Frans and Janine too!

"I don't have time for this."

Today was over 30 degrees Celsius here! Let me clue you in on why that sucks. There is no AC. I sat in front of a fan all day at work so that was okay. I pretty much finished the garment and I'll be starting something else tomorrow. Edwin and Nick worked on getting the shoes ready for the hooves so I'll probably be doing that. There may be another hope for a location for the show. Edwin is planning on going either tuesday or wednesday and coming back thursday so I hope it all works out. 

Time flies.

I'm almost done with the coat/dress! I stayed late to finish sewing some things and I plan to do some handsewing this weekend so It'll be done for sure Monday and we can make the shoes. Apparently Edwin is trying to plan an opening for July 7th for the presentation/exhibit in Amsterdam. I really hope Paris happens because I'm leaving to go to Switzerland and Germany for the weekend with my aunt and uncle on the 8th. Oh well, I'm going to see the castle Neuschwanstein so it'll be worth it anyway.

I had to get more shoes today for us to put the deer legs under and some guy was chillin' and drawing. He was really good too.

This picture is from yesterday but I'm working on the garment so it applies today too.

We were messing around today. 

More awesome bikes! I think I want to print them all out and make a poster of all of them. I think they're so awesome and Dutch :-)

Rainy days

So lately has been the rainiest since I got to The Netherlands. I prefer the sunlight but considering I've already spent over 10 weeks here, I'd say that's pretty good.

Nothing really interested happened yesterday except that I went to my cousin's for dinner.

Today Edwin had the genius idea to clean the atelier and tear of the laminate fake wood he was sick of. It would've been a great idea if he did it himself. You probably know I don't like cleaning so I wasn't a fan of the whole ordeal, especially since he was doing other things while we did the dirty work. I was not in a good mood and I just wanted to work on the garment. He kept saying, "Doesn;t this make you happy (referring to the fact that everything was clean now and looked good.)" I didn't reply because no. I'm happier when I don't have to clean. Let alone clean someone else's crap. Anyway, the rest of the day was fine. I'm doing a bunch of boring stuff to the garment that is taking forever so I've been taking it home but I keep not having any time.

Anyway, Gerbrechje and I went out to breakfast before work to the cutest place on the Zeedijk. It was really fun and I definitely recommend it if you're ever in the area. The place is called De Bakkers Winkel and it's really nice inside and they have excellent food. George, you'll have to come visit or we'll just have to move here so I can take you!

Today after work, we went out to eat since Fleur found out she passed today. The official graduation ceremony (not at all like they are in America) is in 2 weeks. She worked really hard and it was a tough major so it's a big deal.

The traditional hanging flag with a backpack to signify someone has graduated.

GEFELICITEERD FLEUR!!!

First day of summer.

Apparently it's the first day of summer so happy first day of summer :-)

At work, I finished putting most of the garment together but I still have a lot left. I really need to get me some India Cotton and lots of boning because they're magical. I really like how the jacket/dress is turning out and I can't wait to see it finished. Edwin still doesn't have a venue so it's not looking good.

My sunburn has starting to act up. It reminds me of Barcelona so it's okay :-)

I decided to wear my new shoes today but I didn't realize how much friction they cause on my heels. When I got off the bus and started to walk to work, they started hurting really bad. I realized I was bleeding on the left heel and had a blister the size of a quarter on the right. In Dutch they have a saying "wie mooi wilt zijn moet pijn leiden (Who wants to be beautiful has to be in pain)." Well I hope I looked really really good today then. I wore socks at work and Edwin lent me a pair of shoes he had that he used for a previous collection. Looks like I'm going for flats tomorrow.

Back to reality.

So I put the rest of the pictures up (of what I was going to post. I just chose some of the ones I have) and put captions on. My computer was flipping out yesterday trying to load 50 pictures.

At work today, I continued working on the garment. I'm hoping to get it done soon. At least it's going much faster than the last one. There are only 2 weeks left and still no location so I don't know if he;s going to be able to show in Paris. I hope so but I'm apprehensive. Edwin had bought rings at a market to go with the collection. I decided to try them all on as once. Very Karl Lagerfeld.

I also saw some more adorable bikes :-)

Johnny, la gente esta muy loca.

And I'm back from Barcelona. It was fantastico! A picture is worth a thousand words so here are 50 million words (This is only a fraction of the 500 pictures I took).

Okay too many pictures taking way too long. I'll post the rest and captions tomorrow.

Hello Barcelona!

Like bikes in Amsterdam, there are scooters EVERYWHERE!

Cathedral at the Barri Gothic.

The acoustics in the Barri Gothic were awesome and a lot of street performance took advantage of it.

Street performers.

Our first tapas.

House by Gaudi.

Oh, come on. You knew that was coming.

There were protestors in the Place De Catalonya.

THE SAGRADA FAMILIA!

The Nativity Facade.

You can already see the part of the church that was built long ago and the
parts that were built more recently.

Part of the Passion facade. Each side of the church has a theme. 

Another house by Gaudi.

Art Museum of Catalonya.

Olympic stadium and structure where they lit the flame.

More tapas! My aunt Charlotta recommended this place.
It was delicious!

Las Ramblas.

Back at Place De Catalonya. She was such a beautiful living statue,
I gave her some money.

The park designed by Gaudi.

He was playing in the park and he was actually really good.

Patatas Bravas.

Tapas 24. So good!

The Picasso Museum.

A mini shopping mall. Can you find us?

La Playa!

At the beach, people were selling all sorts of stuff. Mostly drinks, scarves, henna tattoos and massages. Maud got a massage from one of the asian ladies. All of a sudden she was gone and we didn't know where she went. When she came back, Maud asked me what happened and she said "police, police." Haha! It's illegal to sell stuff on the street/beach so when the cops showed up, they scattered.

She was constantly looking around for police.

Needless to say, Barcelona was a huge success! Thank you Maud for an unforgettable weekend!