bangle bracelet demo from CHA

New online is a video of my Make N Take from CHA where I show a new stamping technique using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Extra Time + Paints and Hero Arts clear stamps. Fun fun fun!



Products used:
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Extra Time
Inkssentials™ Mini Mister
Inkssentials™ Small Inky Roller™
Inkssentials™ Rubit Scrubit Pad
Inkssentials™ Non-Stick Craft Sheet™
Inkssentials™ Craft Bucket
Inkssentials™ Heat It™ Craft Tool™
DIY Bangles

The Friday Five

I got this idea from Abby Try Again, a wonderful blog of "experiments in film photography and general happiness."   Every week, she posts five senses friday, a way to look back and take stock of the previous week through things seen, heard, tasted, touched, and smelled.  I was hoping to incorporate Five Senses Friday into An American Girl, but I'm not sure I see how to sustain it for weeks on end (will I taste or hear something each week that relates somehow to Vienna or the move?) so I've decided to change it a bit to make it my own (with thanks and apologies to Abby Try Again).

Each Friday, I will post The Friday Five.  Five things I have done, thought, or experienced during the previous week that relate to Vienna, the move, the planning, my blog, or ways in which I/we are celebrating our final year in the Bay Area.  A way to reflect on, appreciate, and share all that happens each week.  And, so, without further ado......

The Friday Five (Freitag funf)

1. Immersed myself in the German language for 2 hours with the German film, Bella Martha. 
2. Through a friend, found a way to get my writing out to the public (I'd like to make writing my livelihood, or at least a part of it, moving forward).  divine caroline - life in your words.  This means, of course, that it is time to seriously begin writing. Gulp.
3. Changed the look of my blog because I found the previous format - layout, font, colors - difficult to read.  I hope you like the new format.
4. Kiefer and I are discussing ways to save money for our move and to begin the downsizing process.  We're thinking about selling a lot of our big furniture and other various belongings, keeping the essentials, and moving to a studio (or smaller, cheaper apartment) for the next six to nine months.  Craigslist, here we come!  Anybody in the Bay Area want to buy a crescent moon-shaped, light blue leather couch?
5. Started The Friday Five!  Okay, that may be cheating a bit, but I just had the idea last night and I'm struggling a bit to come up with Five Things all of a sudden this morning.

Got the hots for polka dots

Hi sweeties! This week I finally finished my bachelor thesis, which equals more blogging! You won't believe how happy I was when I handed it in. Fingers crossed I passed! (I'll find out in 1,5 week but I'm already checking my e-mail religiously, hahah!) I'm going out with a girlfriend to celebrate tonight and what are you up to?

H&M 'leather' skirt - Zara blouse - Ibana Rouge bag - Wolford tights - H&M ankle boots.

Deutsch lernen durch Filme

I just finished watching the German film, Bella Martha (Mostly Martha), which was remade in America several years later as No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart.  I think it's the most German I've ever heard in one sitting and the only time I've ever really heard German spoken in an everyday-regular-life setting.  Well, except in the one other German film I've seen,  Run, Lola, Run, but I'm not sure you could consider Run, Lola, Run to be a movie about everyday-regular-life.  At least it's not my kind of everyday-regular-life (thank goodness!).

But back to Bella Martha.  Now that it is over, I have to say that I am both excited and terrified.

Excited because I feel as though I understood a lot more than I thought I would.

Terrified because I realize just how much this comprehension was aided by subtitles and by a very conscious effort to slow down the dialogue in my head and replay it.  When I did this, I could hear all the words I understood, pick out the other words from the subtitles, and get a sense of the structure of the whole.  Usually.  I wasn't so slow that I had to pause the movie with the remote to do this, but I certainly didn't do it with every line in the film.  

People speaking in everyday conversation, everyday tones, and with everyday speed is quite different than the very deliberately-spoken lessons I've had thus far!  Will I ever be able to comprehend at the same speed at which people are talking!?!? Will I ever be able to speak German quickly, smoothly, without hesitation?!?!?

I did come away from the movie with another good feeling.....about pronunciation.  Sometimes, Rosetta Stone (RS for short, from now on) beats me up, demanding very, very specific pronunciation.  Heck, there have been times I just can't get past the RS pronunciation master with my "Guten Tag" and I have to say it over and over and over again!  Other times, I get through an entire lesson pronouncing everything just the way RS wants it, and I don't always get the difference, so it's a little frustrating.  After watching the movie and hearing the different pronunciations and ways people spoke, I really do think that people will understand what it is I'm saying, if only I can remember the right words and put them together in the right way at the right moment!  Oh yes, and then there will be the additional issue of the Viennese dialect, but I'll worry about that later.

All in all, a good exercise.  More German films, bitte!

P.S.  Ich mochte den Film (I liked the movie).  And I enjoyed the original far more than the Hollywood remake.

That's the question

Wow, you guys sure do love a Q&A! I received over a 100 questions in three days, here are some outtakes: (read all the questions and answers on this website)

How much time do you spend on blogging? Isn't hard to combine with your study/work/boyfriend? Cuz I think it is...
It takes a lot of time, but I love doing it! I don't blog as much as I would like to due to other obligations like university. But it's definitely worth the time investment to me.

Do you live by yourself in Amsterdam? If so, what's your house like and do you have roommates? Your room looks really cool!)

I live in an appartment that I share with my twin brother. It's not huge but I like it a lot! And thanks :D I really like my room as well, thinking of a few small alterations right now. My room probably looks bigger in the picturs though, hahah!

Do you drink a lot of alcohol? What do you think about people drinking just to get drunk every weekend? Are you one of those?
No, definately not! I don't get really drunk when I'm at a party because I want to be in control of the situation when I'm out (and especially when I have to get home by myself). When I'm with my boyfriend I'm less cautious but I'm still hardly ever or never really wasted.

Could you tell something about the times that you travelled? Where have you bin, did you work there or had you saved some money for it? Maybe you can put it in an article, it would be very interesting!
Me, my twin brother and my parents have travelled through a far country for a month each year. Before we were 10 we did europe and then we went far away. Countries we´ve travelled through: the U.S. (and Hawaii), Vietnam, India, Thailand (three times), Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mexico, Cuba, China. And when I was 18 I went to Thailand by myself! What an adventure!! And my boyfriend flew in later.

When are you 'ready' to make a fashionblog? I would like to do it, but I'm not even close to your fashionability, although I try to pick up trends and look nice everyday. And I'm afraid people are going to think I totally love myself.
Don't worry about that. Exposing yourself online and being totally self absorbed are not the same thing :) And if you're a nice person it will probably 'translate' through the screen.

If you feel like you want to blog, you can easily do so. Starting a blog is such a low threshold thing to do. You can create one for free and upload whatever you want. If it doesn’t work out you can still start fresh in a year or so :) And if it takes a while to develop your blogging 'style', that's totally normal.

What do you think about fat but fashioned people?
'The fashion industry' focussus a lot on weight. Often it disconnects with reality. What you wear is supposed to make you look better and feel comfident. Being naturally thin or being larger shouldn't have to interfere with that.
However, I do feel that pushing yourself to be skinny or being (very much) overweight isn't healthy.

What was the best concert you ever visited?
Coldplay in Germany.

What do you think fashion is about?
To me, in daily life fashion is about experimenting and editing your style and creating something that you feel good in and look good in. What interests me in fashion as an industry is that it's so much about creation, whether you look at outfits, a photoshoot, a runway show, an article. It's also very interesting to see how designers try to captivate a moment or a certain essence in their designs and how this translates to a broarder public.

How or where did you meet your boyfriend?
We met in junior high, hahah! So I've known him for about 8 years, but we're not true high school sweethearts. We started dating when we went to university, about 3 years ago. Always had an eye on each other though ;)

What do you think is the latest trend to appear, and waht are your thoughts on it?
Clogs! I like the trend if it's well combined. I saw a great pair at Zara with a big platform and ankle straps, which isn't a literal interpretation and makes it more modern.

What do you think about Jane from Sea of Shoes? Do you like her style, or do you think she is just a spoiled girl with too much money & time?
It's not up to me to say how someone should spend their money :) Jane has a lot of expensive clothes and shoes, but there are a lot of girls out there that have that too, but miss her creativity. I enjoy looking at her pretty shoes and unexpected combinations, even though I wouldn't necessarily wear it the exact same way.

Are you a clean or a messy person?
I used to be really messy as a kid, but my parents tought me that a clean home brings a clean mind and I try to stick with that.

Are there people asking for your authograph when your out on the streets? Or do you get recodnized?
Hahah, that never happened! (I would be surprised!) I do get recognized often though!

Do you wear heels on a daily basis?
Almost every day :)

What's your biggest dream?
I don't really have one big dream, but I do have a few dreams:
Career wise I aspire to be editor at large of a big teens or womens magazine like Teen Vogue, Elle, ... Also I would love to live abroad for a couple of years. Somewhere in California, London, New York, somewhere interesting :) I've always traveled a lot, and would like to stay abroad for a longer while. And when I'm around 30 I would like to have my first of two kids...hahah!

Changing Tenses

Yesterday, I ran the best I have run in months.

I am scheduled to run a half-marathon in little more than a month, but regardless of the impending deadline, I haven't been able to muster any motivation whatsoever.  I've been half-assing it - not eating right, not training midweek, and not even really running when I'm out running, if that makes any sense.  Nine months ago, I was averaging 7:30 - 8:00 min/miles for 13+ miles.  These days, I'm lucky if I can sustain 9:30 min/miles for five.

My old m.o. was to strap on my NikePlus monitor, put it on the pace setting and run to keep at my chosen pace.  I pushed myself during my runs, never wanting to back down, never giving less than all that I had at the moment.  These days, though, I rarely check the pace.  The monitor stays on the distance setting and my primary thought has been "how much farther do I have to go" rather than "how much faster can I go."

When the hell did I get so passive??  When did I get to the point that I thought I could forego training, diet, and preparation and, despite this, decent results would magically appear on my longer Sunday runs?

And what, you're wondering, am I doing babbling on about all this here?

Notice the lack of posts lately?  Maybe one a week for the past few weeks - after the active surge for the first month or so.  Passiveness has left the isolated realm of running and reared its ugly head in other parts of my life!  The blog post ideas haven't come as frequently as before, I've already written about the things I'm doing right at this moment, so, well, I just sit here, waiting for The Next Big Blog Post Idea to fall out of the sky and land in my lap as I sit on the couch and watch yet another episode of The Gilmore Girls or Grey's Anatomy.  Ugh.

Last week, I ate right, followed my special diet, trained all week, and come Sunday had a great run.  I increased my distance by 2 miles and my pace by about 30 seconds a mile.  This still only puts me at 9:00 min/miles for 9 miles, but the best part is that I felt like I was really running the whole time I was running.  I was there, engaged, involved, whatever you want to call it.  I've always called it "active running."

So now it's time to take this whole passive-to-active thing and get my butt in gear with my writing, posting, learning, planning.  I wish I could say that the switch has been flipped to the ON position, just like that.  For a few hours yesterday I thought maybe it had, but it's not quite there.  I'm on a dimmer switch, apparently, and the change isn't quite that dramatic.

What last week did remind me through my running, though, is that the dream of the good result without the work just isn't going to cut it.  If I want this to work, if I want my blog to be interesting or entertaining or relevant in some way, if I want the move to Vienna to happen, if I want to be able to find meaningful work, if I want to learn German, if I want to take full advantage of all there is to do in the Bay Area before we leave - I've got to get my passive ass in gear, not only literally, but figuratively, and make it all happen.

Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga
AKA Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga-Chien

• 1st Filipina and 1st Asian award-winning actress to play the very popular role of Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway (1993)
• 1st Filipina international singer to perform at the Oscar Academy Awards (1993)
• 1st Filipina to win the Sir Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical (1989)
• 1st Filipina to win the prestigious Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as "Kim" in Miss Saigon (1991)

QUOTE

"I can make a 10-year plan and then God can always change it."

ALIAS
"Lea"


DATE OF BIRTH
February 22, 1971

BIRTHPLACE
Manila, Philippines

FATHER: Feliciano Genuino Salonga
MOTHER: Ligaya Alcantara Imutan

HUSBAND: Robert Charles Chien
DAUGHTER: Nicole Beverly

USEFUL LINKS
Official Website of Lea Salonga
A Girl for Lea
Mamma Lea
An Interview with Lea Salonga
Lea wows crowd in an unforgettable Carnegie Hall debut
Lea Salonga: The Rise of Miss Saigon

Question mark

Hi guys!

Over the last two months, almost 500 followers have joined this chick's got style. That's absolutely great and I feel very honored to have such amazing visitors like you :D So I thought it might be nice for the new (and old) readers to get to know me a little better, and also to be able to answer the questions that I missed in the comments. So... you can ask me loads of questions if you click here! (please check if it's already answered before you ask the question, so we don't get doubles :)) Have fun and fire off the questions! The continuous Q&A will last for three days.

to ask questions and to read the answers: go here

Blogging about Blogging

Image via Wikipedia

Blogging and social networking are inextricably linked in the sense that both contain certain features and certain properties of one another. Both are aimed at creating a wide movement as far as multimedia interaction is concerned. Though it is true that blogs can be regulated and kept very private, the main purpose of them is to reach out to a number of people, to have a medium to voice your opinion.

Another similarity is that both these concepts have existed in cyber space for almost a decade now, but in the initial stages both were rather exclusive of one another. Only in the recent times have they been merged, and their similarity in motives truly recognized.

Blogging is essentially done to channel your thoughts out on to an online journal. You also want other people to read what you have written.

This way, you go about coming in touch with people from all over the world who you would not have otherwise known. Similar is the function of social networking. It is a hub where the young and the hearty flock. The chances of getting an audience at such a platform are high.

The origination of the term ‘blog’ is interesting. It was initially called a ‘weblog’ meaning a log or a diary or a journal that helps you to record your thoughts on a day to day basis. In that sense it was rather in its primitive stages and did not turn into an instrument for propaganda immediately. This term was later shortened to blog and this is when free blogging services like Blogger became extremely popular.

Blogging today is not restricted to only maintaining a journal. It has truly become a platform where various kinds of people from all walks of life, whether they have the same ideologies or not, conflate, and discuss the matters they think are important to them.

Blogging in the twenty first century has come to become an important tool for advertising for people who wish to market their products online, for politicians who wish to sell their ideologies, and reach out, to the masses.

Moreover, creating a blog and maintaining it does not require a fortune. Everybody now has a personal blog and it is all free of cost. Also, one does not need to be a computer engineer or a graphic or web designer in order to embellish their blog.

Unlike a website which operates on a different domain, and for which every single template and tab needs to be designed and created from the scratch, blog sites do not need such knowledge. The blogging service providers have their own inbuilt templates and fonts which have to be chosen by the bloggers as per their own tastes and preferences.

Blogging is an ideal way to make new friends and come in contact with more people than you can do in the actual word, from all quarters of the world. Such diverse people will obviously have differing viewpoints. Therefore, this gives scope for a good deal of discussion and debate with all points of view being taken on board.

Blogs can also be for the sole purpose of making new friends and socializing. That is why social networking sites have picked up the clue and in these times social networking and blogging has, to some extent, been combined, and almost become indistinguishable.

It would be interesting to note that the word ‘blog’ is both a noun and a verb. This leads us to the fact that blogging in some sense also helps get rid of hassles of publishing. Though your work will not come out in print, you know that you can publish your work – your articles, pictures, videos, etc – yourself through you blog.

Therefore, it may be your own personal journal that you wish others to read or you works of art in terms of the stories or articles that you write, or the movies that you make. You can share almost any content with the world at large.

It must also be noted that just like you do not have to be a web designer to create your own blog, you need not be a professional writer, a film maker or a photographer to publish content on your blog. It is just a space for you to indulge in your own small artistic pursuits and share those moments with others. Blogging must therefore be exploited to its full potential.

Style file: Mix & Match

The sillouettes this summer are strongly defined and most designers opted for a sleek, strong and clean look or a messy, fun and girly look. In this 2010 trend report I'm discussing the fun and flirty feeling you can create by mixing prints. A lot of designers set the example and showed us no combination is too bold. Leopard with flowers, dots and stripes, tweed with ethnic prints, it's all good!

When mixing prints, you just have to try and see what works and what doesn't as you go along, because sometimes unexpected combinations are the best. However, here are some tips & trics to get you started:
♥ If this trend is a bit too much for you, start by mixing prints in the same color scheme or with a repeating color.
♥ Try mixing a big print and a small print together.
♥ Play with textures to create an even more eye catching outfit.

♥ Dots and stripes are an easy starting point as they are pretty 'neutral' and go with a lot of other prints.

ps. I decided not to do the trend report for a while because I had so many collages of fashion week collections. Do you still want to see more?

Mann und Frau

Please pardon the lapse in writing....I've been off. Busy. Getting married!

It's been a great week, and, well, it seemed busy to me, although it was nowhere near as full as most people's when they get married.  A simple ceremony at San Francisco City Hall.  Dinner. Night in the City. Brunch.  We did it just the way we wanted, which isn't always easy to explain or to make happen.  I suppose that's what we're doing with Vienna as well.....something that's just for us and just us, doing it our way.

But we do have the love and support of many people - for our wedding and for our move.  I was reminded of that this week.  And it made me smile.

The question now is, do we have to (or should we) do it all again when we get to Vienna?  Not that I mind, just curious....

all packed up and ready to go!

Tomorrow I head off for a working trip to England. I'm just about packed and ready to go! I wish Mabel could come with me, but I don't think she'd like the long plane ride!

I'll be starting off in North Yorkshire teaching 2 workshops at Art from the Heart owned by the hilarious and fun Dyan Reaveley. Then I'll head to Birmingham and meet up with Suze and Tim to teach a workshop to store owners at the Craft Hobby + Stitch Show. During Stitches I'll be demoing for Personal Impressions, then onto London for an appearance on QVC UK (watch Feb 23rd online here!) and then home! whew!

I won't be Twittering much because I don't dare use or even turn on my cell phone when I reach the other side of the pond for fear of a giant cell phone bill. And I'm not bringing our laptop since we now use it to watch all our shows by hooking it up to the TV set. I don't want to leave Paul without anything to watch for 9 days!

If I know Suze, she'll be blogging every day so you can follow along with our adventures via her blog!

I am looking forward to seeing England again! I'll see you when I get back!

Will you be my Valentine?

Happy Valentine's day! I'm not that in to Valentine's, but any excuse to bring out these heart tights works for me! Will you be spending the day with a special person? Did you get cards or are you hoping for a V-Day kiss? Share it in the comment section!

ps. Remember the exciting 'thing' I told you about? Well, I did a photo shoot and interview for Grazia magazine this Thursday! It's out in the first week of March! Fingers crossed I look ok :P

Blazer and top: H&M - Tights: Primark - Skirt: borrowed from H&M showroom - Bag: Zara

Glamour goes Guerilla!

Editor at large Karin Swerink

Me in front of the abri

Yesterday evening I headed to the office of Glamour magazine where the team was enjoying champagne and french fries. We then headed out, ready for some action! (Peep toe heels wasn't the smartest choice at hand)

It's the inside that counts is now painted over Glamour abri's all over Holland by the Glamour vandalista's. Even the cops showed up! Glamour editor at large Karin Swerink told me last night: "This fashion statement obviously applies to the inside of the magazine. And Glamour is not just about the latest Balenciaga jeans. It's about feeling comfortable in your own skin and living your own life. We love beautiful clothes, from Prada to Zara. But true Glamour comes from within!"

Ready to fish?

Aynouk Tan (fashion reporter), me, Sabrina, Lisa Anne Stuyvsand (winner of the Elle stylist award), Kassandra (model)

Me and Sabrina were tweeting live fom the Ready to fish by Ilja Visser show. We arrived extra early and got a glimpse of the models up close. What appealed to me most is the mix between silk and fuzzy knits and the high comfort level. Looking fashionable gets really easy when you just throw on a knit onesie and heels! My favorites: the sheer harem pants, silver tapered pants, frilly skirt (Carrie would be jealous) and stone colored jumper. The jumper reminds me of the Dries van Noten one that appeared on various blogs. What are your thoughts?

The Unexpected Story

I've been struggling this past week to find something to blog about.  Something I've done or planned or a tidbit of info I've chanced to find that will help us get closer to Vienna.  Other than our passports arriving, though, I didn't feel I had anything to say, Vienna-wise.  And, so, I've said nothing.

But as I've been sitting here, saying nothing, things that didn't at first seem related or relatable are crowding my mind and I've decided that they're more connected than I thought at first.  It could just be that this is a sentimental time for me, but I'm starting to weave things together and, if not specifically related to Vienna, they're related to me, and this truly is my story this week.

On February 6th, forty years ago, my mother boarded a plane bound for Germany.  She traveled alone and brought with her a large purse containing all the regular purse "stuff," as well as a passport, 6 place settings, and 3 service pieces of sterling silver.  In addition to what sounds like the ultimate handbag, mom had with her a carefully packed and sealed box that held her wedding gown. She was going to meet my dad, who was in the Air Force.  They were getting married.  In Germany.  On Valentine's Day.


Fast forward forty years.  Here I am, in California, away from my family.  I have no place settings stashed in a large purse, but I have a dress.  I am getting married.  On the day as close to Valentine's Day as we could get at City Hall.

These are but a few of the similarities that have come into focus this week.  On a lighter note, I could reference the obvious love (and need) for purses that fit one's life, whatever life may be at that time, and a love of men from Indiana.  

Mind you, I'm nearly 20 years older than my mom was when she began her "adult life," as she's called it, I'm having a self-imposed low-key wedding, and the wedding is taking place before we move to Austria rather than once we're there.  But the similarities are there, bits of two stories that sound alike in some small way. 


Tenuous connections, silly, coincidences....however you might read them, they are special to me.  If you know me and my mother, you know we don't often do things in the same way.  We have different worldviews and different ways of approaching life and there aren't many cases in which I can say I've followed in her footsteps.  So, I choose to see what is happening now as a way of following in her footsteps, cherishing the story that threads through her life to mine and it is to be continued.


The way we got where we did and the reasons we followed may be be different.  But right now, tonight, as my wedding approaches and as I look forward to experiencing a whole new world together with my soon-to-be husband, I think of my mom, sitting at the airport waiting to board the plane, and I feel as though I'm sitting there with her.

workshop updates

My Waxing Poetic class in Alexandria VA was moved to Feb 27th because of our giant winter storm last weekend. Here's the link to sign up and here's hoping that there's not another giant storm on the 27th!

I am also excited to announce that I will be teaching at Creative Escape this August in Arizona! The lottery for registering for Creative Escape will be open ONLY until February 15, 2010. That's less than a week away! Check it out here so you don't miss it!

MORE UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
February 18th & 19th - workshops in North Yorkshire England
A full day of Collage Discovery Workshop followed by a 1/2 day Adventures in Color class. Sign up here! spaces still available in Color class only!

March 20th & 21st - 2 days of Mixed media classes in Lincoln NE
Two days of classes at Southwest Community College in Lincoln NE! One day of Waxing Poetic Beeswax class and another day of The Frayed Edge: exploring fabric collage. Stay for both days or just one! Whatever suits your schedule! To register contact Nancy Holman at 1.800.828.0072 spaces still available!

April 29th - May 2nd - 2 classes in St. Louis MO
Two classes at The Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Workshop event! I'll be teaching Sitting Pretty Photo Sculptures and Poppet Puppets! Click here for all the details and to register!! spaces still available!

snOMG! the Blizzard of 2010!

I didn't think I'd be posting about another big DC snow storm so soon after our last one in December, but Old Man Winter managed to deliver an even bigger storm this time! We were very lucky that our power stayed on through the whole storm, some people are still waiting for power to come back.

All over the Twitter-sphere the storm was tagged as #snOMG, #snOMGasm, #Snowcalypse, #Snowmageddon .... and my favorite #kaisersnowze for all you Usual Suspects fans out there.

Here are a few photos we snapped from our camera phones of this historic snow!

Poor Paul has no snow boots so we did the plastic baggie booties. At least they match!

Snow covered bike on U Street NW

A view down T Street NW

Outside seating at Alero Mexican Restaurant on U Street NW

Snow covered tree on T Street NW

And Paul created a little video montage:



Then after being snowed in for two days we started tormenting the cats....

Poor Mabel, she is so patient!

Happy blog-aversary!

Just an hour away from This chick's got style's one year anniversary and I'm pretty stoked. So many great people, opportunities and clothes came along. Thank you for visiting and for your sweet words :)

As I'm always trying to improve my blog, I would like to hear your suggestions. What would YOU like to see more (or less) on This chick's got style in the second year of blogging? More editorials, art, (interior) design, photography, trends, designer info, personal stuff... anything's possible. Just drop your ideas in the comment section :)

Passports have arrived!

It took less than four weeks.  Thank goodness we didn't pay the extra $60 apiece to expedite them!

what happens next .. i don't know

In November we got the news that Paul's office will be closing. We were told then that Paul and the other web staffers of The Guardian's DC office would continue working until Feb 5th. And after that, would officially a statistic of the recession.

February 5th, seemed like a long way away, but Paul leapt into action immediately: resumes have been emailed like mad, networking like crazy, and even a few interviews.

The cliche of saying it feels like a roller coaster ride is true. We are at the part in the ride where we are chugging up the steep hill, each day that has passed has moved us further up the hill as we got closer and closer to Feb 5th.

We can't see how big the drop is on the other side .... sometimes roller coasters trick you into thinking it's a steep hill when it's just a slope or a series of smaller hills on the way down. Or sometimes you chug up that big hill, heart racing in anticipation to realize, it's a straight drop down.

Will we be frightened or laughing on our big ride? I don't know. But I know for sure we'll be holding hands!

A spring romance

the H&M Garden Collection

What I wore to the showroom

Every girl likes to dream off to a more romantic setting now and then. And the H&M Garden Collection does the tric! Bright red roses, garden inspired collors, the print of a wild bouquet, it's all there. Next to the surprising cuts and details, the clothes have a luxurious feel to them as they are all made of sustainable or recycled materials. On top of that, this exclusive collection is available at the regular H&M price point. A good thing, since I want it all...!

On monday I had an appointment with Aukje and Sabine at the H&M showroom. Not only were the girls great, I also had the time to indulge in the incredible collections H&M is bringing us for spring. At first I noticed the Garden Collection has a lot of multi-colored prints, which gives that instant summer feeling. THen I discovered some items have a 70's, boho vibe to it and these mostly come in blues and whites. (Like the blue dungaree dress, which would look great with a white tank and fedora hat!) The other part has a more romantic and glamorous feel to it and consists of nudes, whites and red. The Garden Collection hits the stores at the end of March, so you better start saving!

EnD @ Amsterdam Fashion Week

Yesterday I visited the EnD show at fashion week. The clothes were inspired by the dark and edgy femininity of the 40's and 50's film noir. These outfits can be worn right off the runway, and I can definately picture myself in them. My favorites are the flowy blouses, detailed leather skirts and strong shoulders. If I just forget about food and only buy EnD clothes from now, I'm a happy camper...!