Primark!

First off, I'm enjoying not having to work for free this week. It's giving me the chance to do some things I still really wanted to do. 

Yesterday I went to Limburg and I met up with my old neighbors (I've known them my whole life, they're family). I also went to their house, which is next to the house I grew up in. I also tried to go by my old nanny's house but she wasn't home so I left a note. It's always nice to go back there but it's also weird. I'm caught up in 2 world but I'm getting used to it.

The house I grew up in. You can see me in my orange dress in the reflection :-)
 

Then I went to Maastricht for dinner with some of my family in the south. We went to the Cantonese restaurant my family always goes to and it was delicious.

Today I went to Primark with my cousin Fleur (dankjewel Edwin Karnebeek!). It's a magical store where everything is super cheap. It's a British company and they have a store in Rotterdam and just opened this location in Hoofddorp, which is pretty close to my grandparents' house. Here is what we scored for well under 100 Euros.

We both loved this dress and it was 7 Euros. Needless to say we both got it.

All in all, successful day. Now I'm going to pack for Prague tomorrow. I'm going with my grandparents until tuesday. WHOO-HOO!

Hoi Krissy!

Last school year I worked in a project about Dutch traditional dress. I want to someday write a book about it because althou the subject is quite popular with tourists, there only 1 or 2 books about it. And they're not very good. There are also museums in The Netherlands but only in each specific region. There is not one general museum about all traditional Dutch dress. This makes it very hard to get information about it. I can't afford to go to all the museums here even though I want to but I went to 2 of them this week. I hope to one day have collected enough information to write a book :-)

This is from West Friesland:

This from the Zaanstreek.

I started packing gifts and things to bring back. Here's the result:

Majong.

Friday was my last day of work. It was really chill and we went by the exhibit again and hung out. Then I met up with an old friend of mine from Geleen, Coco. She lives in Amsterdam now so we got a chance to catch up. After that, I met up with Gerbrechje and Linett and we sat by the Amstel (a river) and bonded.

Saturday I went to Peter, Geri and Marit (family friends I've known my whole life). They opened my eyes to the world of Alkmaar, the city they live it. It's awesome. I don't know why I haven't been there before because I was so much fun. It's like a mini, cozy version of Amsterdam with a lot of cute little shops and lots of delicious places to eat.

We took a canal ride. The bridges were so low that you had to duck almost completely in the aisle.

We went to a new cupcake place where you can buy cupcake stuff downstairs and eat cupcakes in a 50s decorated upstairs. Genius.

You can't get cheese like this in America.

I love cheese.

Marit and I.

After going out to diner at a delicious Greek restaurant, they taught me how to play Majong. It's crazy but really fun.

Also, here's another articles about the show I found. 

This one's from Design.nl:

http://m.design.nl/item/wie_eine_hinde

and this one from a blog:

http://www.firstofaugust.com/

I want tickets!!!

This morning Edwin and I went to Katwijk to the Soldaat Van Oranje theatre to see what dresses need to be replaced for the new cast starting August 12th. We looked at a bunch of the costumes and walked around the set. It was really cool to see and I really hope I can get tickets somehow so I can go. They said they are going to try to get me production tickets but since I'm on a time constraint, there may not be any more available. Here's to hoping!

One of the sets. This is for a beach scene where the real water will get real waves !
The house (chairs) turn to the different sets that are all around.

Guess what?!? One of the dresses I made is dress of the day for a Dutch newspaper. Oh yeah. Like a boss.

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/924/MODE/article/detail/2804020/2011/07/14/Fashion-Week-De-jurk-van-de-dag---1.dhtml

Linette, Kaho and I went to Topshop and had sushi. It was raiging freakin' cats and dogs but we had a great time :-)

These sad umbrellas were everywhere.

P.S.

George got accepted back into UCF for his online degree so he's set for school this coming year. Whoo-hoo! So excited! I hope this means the balance of the universe is tipping in our favor now.

Fleur and Patrick graduated!

First off, Congrats to Fleur and Patrick for graduating! I don't know the equivalent in English but good job!

Secondly, Edwin and I went by the presentation space today to install a video. I took 200 pictures but here's the short version:

THE SHOES

Details of the cape.

"My" corset dress.

Elise with "her" dress.

 

Between 2 other dresses I made.

Detail of the printed velvet dress.

The shrug Edwin's mom knitted.

And I saw a trailer of the documentary that is now being showed at the presentation.

Who would have orange nails?!? So ugly.

Then I went to Patrick and Fleur's graduation. It was a little bit different than mine (that was sarcasm but you can't hear it when I type).

Signing the diploma and other papers.

Awwwwwwwwwww.

We (Fleur, Patrick and I) had drinks to celebrate.

Don't get your hopes up, it's non-alcoholic.

The all-star couple.