Category Archives: tunes

Way too much text (also has the word ASS in it)

by Ashley Posted on April 2, 2013

Let’s start this 50th post (yay!) with some instagram pictures:

We went for a long two hour walk this weekend and ended up by the sea. It was sooo cold! I love this picture my boyfriend took of me :) ▲ I drink lots and lots of tea with this cold weather. This one is gentle green tea, with a lot of pretty colours in it ▲ Don’t know why I included this (probably to complete this collage, hehe), but here you can see the contents of my make-up bag. ▲ I took my written driver’s license test (Auto-theorie? Learner’s permit? Translation?) and I passed, yay! Now I just have to get the courage to actually take a driving-lesson… This is a picture of a stupid question in my theory book.


Monday my family from the south came to visit us and we went for a walk (pictured: my niece, nephew and sister) ▲ Me again, with the light-house in the background.

Hey guys! Or girls. Women? I don’t know, which one do you prefer? Well, this week was pretty eventful I must say. Remember I just moved? Turns out that we have to move again! Yes, who would have thought?! The house we are living in (my father’s) has been on the market for 1,5 years, we live in it for almost two months and suddenly it’s sold. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Of course we knew this could happen, but I must say we were pretty shocked it actually happened so soon. Happy for my father of course, but nonetheless a little bit of a bummer for us. Or maybe a new challenge? Hm, I must say it has kept me awake a few nights already, although I do know we will be fine. As long as we’re together, right? (aaw, too much cheese?)

Let’s move on (ha-ha, pun intended).

Have you heard about Annemerel‘s Fit For Summer project? When she added me to the facebook group I jokingly asked her if it was a hint and I kind of dismissed the idea to actually join in, but I soon realized that this was actually the “little push” I was waiting for. Long story short: I plan to complete the Fit For Summer challenge! This week we have to do a 30 minute cardio work-out everyday for five days, so we can take the weekend off or take a rest-day in between. Totally do-able! Yesterday I started the week by biking to my mom, which with the strong wind turned out to be a tough 45 minute ride (times two, cause we had to go back as well). Today I decided to skip the work-out, because my ASS felt sore (I need more fat on my ass!!! Now let’s hope my upper-thighs will hear this and can TAKE A HINT) and my back needed some rest. Instead I watched Sex and the City and ate some american pancakes with strawberries (hey, I need some fuel as well, right?). Tomorrow I will be back in the game and probably go to the gym. Or maybe go for a run if the sun is shining… fingers crossed on that one. Anyway, I’m pretty excited about this challenge. I was missing some routine in my life and this will add some, if only a little (pathetic? me? a little bit? maybe). If you want to join in as well: here is a link to the facebook group.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ MORE STUFF ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

(my sister)

My sister has completed a month of vlogging and I think she’s pretty good at it! Last week she wanted some new profile pictures taken (I also promised to make her “channel art”? Should look into that) and by doing so I also made my youtube debut in one of her vlogs. Curious about her vlogs? Check it out! ♥ I am realllllly excited for Sofia’s new movie The Bling Ring. Emma Watson was great in The Perks of being a Wallflower and I think she will be great in this new one. The trailer looks good! ♥ This week I’m going to have a lot of girl time. Tomorrow Nathalie will come visit me (so brave of her, coming all the way to the end of the world! lol), friday I’m shooting again with Tara (although she doesn’t know this yet, but I’ll be totally bringing my camera), saturday night I’ll be catching up with a highschool friend whom I haven’t spoken to in almost three years (it’s been waaaay too long) and Kim will also be in Holland this week, so yay! ♥ I had a good laugh about Mascha’s April Fools joke. A cheese mask? Really?! Have you fooled anyone yesterday? ♥ Have I told you I love Bill Murray? No? Well, I LOVE HIM. He’s amazing. I finally watched Steve Zissou and the Life Aquatic this week and goddd, that dance of his. I’m laughing just thinking about it (probably only funny if you’ve seen the movie). ♥ If you have a burning question for me, you can now ask it via the link in my menu on the right —-> you see? I don’t know if anyone is ever going to use it, but I thought it would be fun. ♥ What the… hahaha, this is awful. Who made this up?! ♥

And as usual, a song to close it all up:

Because Lost in Translation is always a good idea.

Have a good week everybody! Hope you are all doing well!

Posted in daily musings, Instagr.am, tunes | 6 Comments

Daily musings, lazy instagram version (again)

by Ashley Posted on March 16, 2013
My sister painted her bedroom last week in this pretty blue colour. Makes me think of Sweden… ▲ 50 kronor! ▲ My mother in-law got me these pretty tullips. Well, they WERE pretty, but on this picture: not so much anymore. ▲ My sister came by to do my make-up, just for fun! (her make-up bag and it’s contents are considerably larger than mine).


My boyfriend had his birthday this week (happy birthday baby!) and I baked apple pie. As a present I got him a flying lesson. Fortunately he really liked it! We still have to book it, but we are waiting for the weather to get better. ▲ We went to Amsterdam to pick up my diploma, yay! It took me forever (boring story) but now I finally got it. ▲ I could not decide if I liked the leather vest when I was in the store, but I’m glad I bought it. ▲ When everyone was complaining about the snow and all the discomfort they were experiencing because of it, I took this picture to show that we had beautiful weather. Next morning I woke up and what did I see? SNOW. Karma? (yes of course my karma can make it snow)


Pizza! Home made is the best! And super easy as well. Just add some flower, an egg and water (or olive oil) together for the dough and use whatever you want for toppings. Delicious and also very healthy (although, if you want, you can probably make this very unhealthy with various toppings like A LOT of cheese, hehe…). ▲ A picture of me with my bike when I was in Sweden. We (the international students) all had such crappy bikes, it was hilarious! I don’t think we got home from a party in the middle of the night without someone’s bike breaking down. Mine was quite alright though. And it had a cute basket, so I was happy ;) ▲ My boyfriend got me this watch as a graduation present. I can’t stop staring at it! So sweet of him. ▲ Like I said… SNOW!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ MORE STUFF ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Got hooked on Sherlock and found myself liking this cute facebook picture. Can’t wait for season 3. ▲ Wow, I wrote about Veronica Mars last week and now it turns out there is going to be a movie after all. I must be psychic or something (a very logical explanation I think). I’m SO EXCITED!!! ▲ You MUST watch something by Derren Brown. I had never heard of him until a good friend of mine introduced me and now I’ve seen every episode he’s ever made… oops. My favorite episodes: Apocalypse, The Secret of Luck, Svengali (a theatre show) and well, I almost like everything he’s made. The Secret of Luck is up on youtube, here is a link. It’s a good one to start of with! I seriously teared up at the end… ▲ My sister started a youtube channel! This month she tries to make 1 video a day, talking about how she deals with life right now (and also about fun stuff, like movies). I think she’s super brave for being so honest (and being on camera!) and I think she deserves some viewers. Go check it out :) (I kind of freaked out one time when I had one of her videos on in the background, because I really thought I heard my own voice, hehe!) ▲ Today I woke up with a horrrrible cold. Does anyone of you have a great tip to get rid of it quickly? ▲ Thanks to Annemerel’s post I rediscovered my old Dido album “Life for Rent”. There’s some serious nostalgia going on when I’m listening to it. I forgot how great it was. ▲

A song to close this up:

No diggity! (can’t beat the original, but nevertheless enjoyable ;) )

And last but not least, a request: please leave me your blog-url, because I want to discover some new lovely blogs (as I’m sure yours is)! :)

 

Posted in daily musings, Instagr.am, tunes, tv | 37 Comments

ZON

by Ashley Posted on March 4, 2013

Today we kind of had our first real day of spring here in the Netherlands. It was lovely. I really love how light this house is, something I forgot until the sun came out today and lit it all up.

I must say that I’m really glad that the sun is finally showing itself (and yes, I know that it’s technically not correct, the stuff with the clouds and the sun always being there et cetera…). It’s about time! Because let me be honest with you: although I have had nothing bad happening to me in the past week, I’m kind of feeling down. It’s a weird feeling, like something is creeping up on me… I see myself avoiding mirrors, am bored with all of my clothes, don’t feel like eating (I do of course, but I don’t really enjoy it – which is weird, because usually I LOVE food), I’m tired, don’t feel like really doing anything at all and well… If I would have to summarize it all in one word it would be BLEGH. Not even a postive ~inspirational~ quote on a random picture can make me feel better. Maybe it’s the winterblues? It’s time for the sun to come out! Hopefully it will help!

Thankfully I was able to ignore that feeling for a little bit some days this week and forced myself to go outside. What do you see (besides the obvious pictures of “our” house) and what did I do?

I watched Silver Linings Playbook, which I liked but didn’t love (maybe I should read the book?) ▲ We went to Amsterdam for a open day at the university and I found the Master I want to graduate in, yay! I’ll start in september :) ▲ We also bought apple pie and paid Nathalie a visit at her cute home that day (and when I say cute, I mean it in a really good way, not in a “it’s small, so let’s just call it cute” kind of way) ▲ We used our fireplace almost everyday ▲ Baked tiny pancakes over at a friends house ▲ I bought some new boots (yay for sale shopping) ▲ Finally found a good coffee place in town! ▲ I borrowed the Bamboo Wacom tablet from a friend and used it for the first time (see last post for the results). Feels nice to be creative again (although it also forces me to fully acknowledge my own shortcomings – I CANNOT DRAW, no matter how hard I try, hehe) ▲ I’ve been listening a lot to Coldplay this week. Still love this song, great to sing a long ;-) ▲ I made potato soup again, and yes, I WILL post the recipe this week. I promise. ▲

Also, this song makes me happy (it’s from the 500 days of summer soundtrack):

Have a nice week everybody. Let it be a good one!

Posted in daily musings, home sweet home, Instagr.am, stupid pictures, tunes | 14 Comments

Honey, haven’t you heard? I’m the queen around here

by Ashley Posted on January 28, 2013

The title is somewhat arrogant, but I thought it was very fitting considering the circumstances today. Me, sharing my week like a real celebrity, displaying my bread of cheese like it’s some royal dish and a very big deal (look, I am eating BREAD! With CHEESE!) and with our queen abdicating the throne and all. The whole idea of a monarchy is pretty archaic (my american friends think it’s crazy… and I must admit, they have a point), but I love our royal family and find it all very fascinating.

Anyway, because I am the queen around here: here are some moments and things I want to share with you.


A PINK HOUSE! And no, it isn’t mine unfortunately, but I had to snap a picture of it when I saw it standing in the snow looking all pretty ♥ My sister came to visit me and we went out for some (window)shopping and tea. She didn’t want me to take a picture of her, but come on, would you be able to resist taking a picture of her? She’s cute, right? ;)

Kim took a spontaneous trip to the Netherlands and I got to see her, yay! ♥ I really didn’t like the movie (except for the many Volvo shots), but the soundtrack is very pleasant. I particularly like this song! It’s so… eerie? And YES, I am aware of the fact that it is the song from the sex scene… Oh well, it’s still pretty.


I took a peek out of my bedroom window and all I saw was snow.

Let me keep it short here: just a very beautiful sky. ♥ Delicious potato soup! It’s a little orange, because I used some extra carrots, but in the spirit of things, why not?! (I swear, this will be my last pun…) Does anyone want a recipe of this? The recipe is very easy and basic, but it has quickly become one of my favorite dishes over the past few months after Tara served me this soup for the first time.


My boyfriend took this picture of me in the snow and, I SWEAR: the red car – red beanie thing was a complete coincidence!


Ah, there it is! My bread with cheese! I seriously missed this when I was in Sweden. My budget wasn’t really up to par during those months, so I ate a lot of meatballs and bread with… well, other stuff. Besides: nothing tastes better than our very own dutch cheese :) ♥ Nathalie lives at nummer 63 and as you can see, I paid her a visit. We talked about our future (and about how much I miss studying!) and drank lots of tea. Good times :)

Not pictured, but also done by me and therefore important enough to be mentioned: I went to the library and rented three autobiographies, just for the fun of it. ♥ I also did some things I should’ve done ages ago (all boring administration stuff) and now I feel very accomplished. ♥ Saturday I met up with a very good friend who, due to circumstances, I hadn’t spoken to in a very long time and it was like nothing ever changed :) ♥ We’re moving next week and therefore I have done some very serious closet-cleaning. Feels good to get rid of things! ♥

(I also have this theory that I would be an AWESOME princess. But I’ll leave that for another time).

Have a nice week everyone!

Posted in daily musings, Instagr.am, tunes | 17 Comments

Gotta love those bulletpoints

by Ashley Posted on January 9, 2013

♥ Happy twenty-13 everyone! Let me break out another cliché on this already cliché blog: I can’t believe 2012 is really over. It went by so fast! Last year around this time I was just leaving for Sweden and I couldn’t even imagine how amazing the year was going to be.
♥ My christmas was perfect. Lots of good food and quality time with family members. How was yours?
♥ I hate to be repetitive, but I have been working a lot lately. I had to work the day before christmas and I swear, I must’ve giftwrapped at least a hundred gifts that day! It was fun though. People were in a good mood and although my fingers were sore from all the wrapping, I had fun with my colleagues.
♥ As you’ve probably already had guessed, blogging wasn’t really that big of a priority for me the past few weeks. Busy times! I also get bored really easily with just writing about my own life. Not that it is actually boring of courssseee…. but I’m no freaking Michelle Obama or anything, let’s just be honest! And those instagram diaries aren’t doing me any favors either. Oh, I ate another pie? I wore another outfit? I posed for another picture? Snoozefest. Unfortunately I had very little to no inspiration to write about anything else. Must work on that.
♥ I’m thinking about buying a drawing tablet, something like this. Does anyone of you have any idea about which one I should get? I read a lot of good stuff about Wacom, but I have literally zero experience with this kind of stuff. Please let me know!
♥ If you aren’t watching The Office yet, you totally should. It took me a while to get into it, but now we probably watch two or three episodes a day. They are only twenty minutes, so they are perfect to watch during breakfast or before going to bed (if you aren’t doing anything else, wink wink). Anyway, Jim and Pam are SO cute!
♥ The Twilight movies are bad, but I’m kind of obsessing about the soundtrack from the first movie. LOVE this song. It’s so bad that it’s good. Something like that. (Also, my favorite parts from Breaking Dawn II were all the pretty Volvo scenes. Now I want a Volvo too! My boyfriend is totally gloating when he’s reading this. Somehow his indoctrination about the “amazing Volvo” finally got stuck inside my head.. hehe)
♥ My sister introduced me to One Tree Hill a few weeks ago. Big mistake. Don’t watch it. It’s awful… and very addictive!
♥ I finished Albright’s autobiography (such a great read!) and am now looking for something along the same lines. Someone told me Clinton’s autobiography is pretty good, but I don’t know… it probably covers pretty much the same international conflicts. Nerds, let me hear you roar! Whose autobiography can you recommend to me?
♥ With the risk of sounding like a hipster: I love the Smiths. When we drove to my family down south for Christmas, we blasted this album through our carspeakers. Morrissey and his crazy lyrics… Love love love. Fortunately I’m blessed with a boyfriend who likes them too ;-)
♥ For the other one (or two) Silent Witness fans out there: the first episode of season 16 airs tomorrow! Yay! Just giving you the heads up ;)

Ok folks, that’s it for today. Hope you are all doing well :-) Hugs from me! xx

Posted in daily musings, nonsensical references, tunes | 24 Comments

S-s-summertime, summertime sadness

by Ashley Posted on July 29, 2012

Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
Telephone wires above all sizzling like your stare
Honey I’m on fire I feel it everywhere
Nothing scares me anymore

People are joking about the amount of instagram that is probably being used in Lana del Rey’s musicvideos, but I can’t help it: I LOVE THEM. Summertime Sadness gives me chills. All those beautiful shots where it seems like she’s floating… Also a big plus is the fact that one of her best friends (and very cute, may I add) actress Jamie King is in this video (you might recognize her from Hart of Dixie). Must be fun, riding in a car with them on those warm and lonely summer nights. Without the jumping off of bridges and all the tears of course.

My favorite moments? 0:48 (jumping between the trees), 2:55 (just because), 3:25 (floating floating!), 4:02 (she’s so pretty!) & 4:22 (love the end, it’s so eerie!). Also the scenes with Jamie on the bridge are SO beautiful. And the very short shots in between, the cute moment where Lana makes a funny face, Lana and the dog &… well, ok, I’ll admit it: I’m in love with every minute of it.

* (pictures used above are screenshots from the musicvideo)

Posted in lana del slay, tunes | 6 Comments