About a Discodipped and starry night

Last week I celebrated my birthday. I turned 31 but celebrated like I hadn’t even reached 13 yet. Growing up is something I’ll save for later.
I celebrated my birthday with a group of lovely people that I feel blessed to have in my life and call my friends. The theme was DiscoDip, after my favourite ice cream decoration.

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This accidental Discodip picture I took a couple of years ago. Copyrights by me, 2014.

I bet all my friends stressed out at the thought of a theme. That was the only true reason I decided to go with a theme – to make them feel a little awkward. And also the fact that Discodip is just too good and colourful to be true. It really makes me happy!

We met up at the TonTonClub in Amsterdam’s Red Light district. No red ears or under-age warnings needed; TonTon Club is kind of a modern game arcade where you can play Jenga or get lost in a car race (never ending if you keep on feeding the machine coins) and dive in a ball pit. You can also watch the prostitutes from a safe distance if visiting them is too much for you, guys.

Like any 13 or 31 year old probably wouldn’t… I made party bags for my friends. The kind my mother used to make for my birthday parties when I really was young. With a candy heart, confetti, a weird-shaped eraser and a lucky star. Because I love my friends, I love to give and I love to show my gratitude. The lucky stars I made myself and I added a little message to them before I folded them. Unless they’ve all unfolded their stars, they still don’t know what’s written on it.

So here it is, my message to you ‘unfolded’:


“Be the DiscoDip to someone’s icecream”. That’s the loveliest thing you can be: colourful, happy and full of love. And to share that is spreading it, like a colourful love-virus. So I won’t stop you from spreading. Enjoy!

If you want to fold Lucky Stars – it’s pretty easy! I just don’t like to write out the instructions so here’s a link to someone else who already did write the instructions down for you.

2014 – tick!

Yesterday I told you about my “2014 in a jar”. Today I opened the jar and read all the pieces of paper. Even though 2014 seemed to be the toughest year to have tackled in a while, I can happily say it was quite a fulfilling year and I  managed to notice and collect a lot of beautiful moments.

2014 felt to me as though I stood still. Even took steps back. But no. Turns out I’ve achieved a lot. For instance, I flew a kite on Parliament Hill with my beloved friend M. and painted my bedroom door. I gave my egg&bacon sandwich to a guy sleeping rough. Two little boys had trouble getting the chain back on their bike and so I decided to get my hands dirty to help them.

The Kite. Parliament Hill.

The Kite. Parliament Hill.

I had my first cards printed and yet another bunch are ready to be printed in the new year. Friends have been a huge part of 2014 too: helping, listening, being there for them. Appreciation, support, trust and true friendship in return. One friend even hid money at several spots in my house. Ha!

It seems I’ve overcome a few self-confidence thresholds too, which has led to taking steps I never believed I could and results I never believed would be mine to enjoy.

A friend knew I needed this.

A friend knew I needed this.

All together, 2014 may have been a tough one to tackle. But I did, I ticked this year off my to-do-list. And going through all these moments gives me confidence for yet another year.

Sending you all confidence for 2015 too. Happy New, dear readers!

 

When the day is filled with small pleasures

Today was a good day.
Filled with small pleasures.
Scattered over the day.
Put them all together and it becomes one big happy mess!
See for yourself.

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It started with a delicious brunch with one of my sweet-mazing friends.
Followed by a stroll.
Meanwhile we sneaked in and out of the most lovely shops we stumbled upon.
And admired the shopfloors, accidentally decorated with Autumn leaves.

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We then found a beautiful passion flower.
Because Summer isn’t all that long ago.
The sun even showed.

All this linked together with lots of laughter.

Today was a good day.

 

 

Yellow roses & yellow hearts

This month my focus lies with yellow. Yellow, the colour of… of what exactly? Did you know that in Victorian times yellow roses meant jealousy and infidelity? Giving your love-interest yellow roses wasn’t the wisest of ideas. These days however yellow roses stand for friendship and joy and showing you care. Still, gentlemen, sending the woman of your dreams a bunch of yellow roses – I’d rather not be on the receiving end.I heart yellow hearts
On the other hand, when it comes to hearts, yellow hearts are my favourite. From cutting a heart out of yellow paper to the emoji-heart on my smartie phone, I find a yellow heart sparks even more than a heart covered in glitters. Yellow, gold…close to each other, don’t you think? In my opinion the yellow heart can represent the gold heart. Someone who has a heart of gold is said to be honest and caring. The yellow version of a heart stands for friendship, happiness, a person with a trustful heart.

The yellow heart being my favourite heart, but you may keep the yellow roses yourself.