Closet visit

One of the advantages of internet is that you come upon blogs and websites that are a source of inspiration. When it comes to clothes and fashion, I enjoy catching up with Scott Schuman's blog The Sartorialist. I like the way he captures street fashion. One of the websites I regularly visit is Closet Visit. It gives you a glimpse in the closet of artists, photographers, people working in the fashion industry etc. They recently posted their second film 'Matilde', which is beautiful! The film is like a dream, a fairytale. A combination of Alice in Wonderland, the Secret Garden and Little Red Riding Hood. Do have a look, and let me know if you enjoy it as much as I do. Choose 'couch mode' and you will get the full screen version. It's simply lovely!

On today's photo's two outfits and some accessories from my closet. They are very different in style. The brown leather bag, the black evening bag and the cameo are vintage finds. The necklace came from an auction site. The silver rings are presents I received over the years and love to wear. The clothes are a mix of old and new, by Zara, H&M & Vanilia. The striped top is by Best Behavior. The grey slouch bag is by Nelis & Janssen. They have the most fantastic bags! The shoes are by Invito.

What I would like to know. Which fashion blogs do you like?

Have a lovely weekend, Happy Halloween!

Madelief x

Cute cupcakes

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I said thank you for leaving comments on my blog. I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading them very much. Blogging would not be half as much fun without them.

I left work early yesterday, to spend some extra time with my daughters. They are at home for the autumn holidays. One of the things they love to do is baking. Especially cupcakes!

We made some simple ones with flour, sugar, eggs and butter. The frosting we use is from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. It's a combination of icing sugar and butter. We always add a few drops of rose essence, to give it some extra flavour and a soft pink colour. The girls decided on the title of today's post: cute cupcakes it was going to be!

I recently found some sweet tulip shaped cupcake cases and pearl sprinkles at the garden centre (Intratuin). Off all places :-) They have an amazing collection. The light blue and pink cases with the flowers and polka dots are from Greengate. The Limoges teacup and little milk jar on the last two photo's came from our local flea market.

Wish you all a happy weekend! If the weather permits we will spending some time in the garden to clean things up.

Madelief x

Plant fair

Last weekend we went to a plant fair at the arboretum Trompenburg in Kralingen (Rotterdam). It's one of my favourite landscaped gardens in the neighbourhood. Dating back to 1820. It has a huge collection of trees, conifers, hosta's and rhododendrons.

We visit at least twice a year, when there is a plant fair. Specialised nurseries from all over Holland are present. This weekend the fair was extra special, due to the fine weather.

We walked through the garden, around the stalls and sat in the sun to eat some home made parsnip/carrot soup. We took several plants home with us. I couldn't resist the tall spiky stems and purple flowers of the Verbena bonariensis and the crimson bell shaped flowers of the penstemon Rich Ruby. I found it difficult not to take any Dahlia's with me, but I wasn't sure if I could keep the tubers over the winter. This year I will give it a go with the Dahlia's I have in my garden. I would welcome advice!

What I would love to know. Have you been to plant fair recently?

Wish you a happy wednesday!

Madelief x

Autumn lunch

Two weeks ago we had a few warm and sunny autumn days in Holland. I already cleaned the outdoor kitchen and prepared the garden house for winter, but this was too good an opportunity to miss.....another beautiful day in the garden!

I invited my parents to enjoy part of the day with us, and have lunch together. Because the grass was soaking wet, we put the table on the decking, which my brother recently renewed. From this elevated position we had a good view of the garden; the colourful flowers, the little garden house, the old hazelnut tree, the leaves of the plants slowly turning red, the morning mist.... I soaked it all up. It will be a long five months before the first spring flowers appear. Wish it could be sooner!

At the end of the day we took the last vegetables home with us. Some red and green peppers, garlic, oak leaf lettuce and grapes. Now it's time to open up my garden books once more and start thinking of what lies ahead. Will I plant more flowers, get rid of the herbs and some blackberry bushes, what shall I do with the fig tree that's giving too much shade......?

A lovely weekend to you all!

Madelief x