Autumn Shopping

Took a little trip to the city (Utrecht) with my best friend last Sunday! I was in serious need of warmer clothes, and I found some! It seems I've found myself a new favourite place to shop in Utrecht, and it's its Pull & Bear! Awesome fabrics, great styles and a broad range of clothes!

Not only did we shop, we also decided to act a little touristy in the city we know by heart ;) When you haven't got the means for travelling, looking at your home-city in a different way can just make you feel that bit more exotic!

A Journey Out Of The Comfort Zone

Hello everybody :)

How are you all enjoying your summer holidays?

Me, I'm on a journey out of my comfort zone.

You might wonder why on earth I'd want to go out of my comfort zone during the summerbreak, isn't that the time to be as comfortable as you can until school starts again? You're right it is! But there are so many things in the world that I just know I'll enjoy but I'm somehow held back by fears or insecurities; that I just felt like I needed a little push.

One of these wishes, that I was a little scared of fulfilling, was starting a youtube channel. I love youtube very much and you may have noticed in previous blogposts that bloggers/vloggers like Zoella are true inspirations for me. The only thing about having my own channel that scared me, was having people listen to my voice. I don't like my voice the slightest bit, and I realise that that is an insecurity that I should just shove in a drawer like I do with everything I don't like seeing in my bedroom :p But then my best friend, who's been loving the whole youtube community a lot longer than me, suggested that maybe we could start a channel together! It would be less stressful, and less scary. Of course I was on board with that :)

And so our first video came into existence, a very simple "Too Much Information" video where we answer questions about ourselves. It is in no way perfect yet, and our videos may never become so! But that doesn't really matter, does it? I feel like we can pat each other on the back for even daring to put ourselves out in the world like that! Anyway; here it is :)

Please make sure to subscribe to our channel if you'd like to see more in the future, and don't forget to like our first video :)

If you'd like to stay updated about our channel, you can follow us on instagram as well:
@cropthattop









But that is not all I was going to say about me leaving the comfort zone!

I recently spent a lot of money :O

I bought a MacBook Air, for the sake of my extensive creative use of laptops. My previous laptop had started a slow deathbed, and I wanted to make sure to replace it before it really died. I use my laptop every day and mainly for writing/blogging/watching series/youtube and from now on also editing :) I thought spending a lot of money on something that I'll truly enjoy was a good investment into my creative improvement as well. I cannot wait to start working with iMovie, and I'm already loving writing stories on this thing. (The keyboard is a-ma-zing)

The MacBook Air is also very light, and that's gonna come in really handy when travelling :) (<more about that in the future, by the way!)

Last but not least, tomorrow I'm going shopping in Amsterdam with Anne-Floor!! So excited to be visiting all of the shops I keep hearing about :') I'm fairly certain that I'll purchase the entirety of Forever21's stock. It's gonna be amazing!

Picture not mine

We will take the train from Utrecht to Amsterdam, which is a first for both of us: we've never been to Amsterdam on our own before. It's going to be really exciting and the weather is going to be great as well, so :) You will definitely see pictures on here, if not videos on our youtube channel!

It may take some time, though, because I will not be in access of internet next week. I will be camping in Switzerland with my friends, and sadly Wi-Fi is not a possibility there :(. But it's going to be great anyways, and I will take lots of photos there as well.

Picture not mine

We will be going to Kandersteg, it's a town in the mountains and near a beautiful lake. I've never been there before, nor have I ever been to Switzerland at all! If you've ever been there, please tell me what it's like in the comments  :) I would love to hear your story!

Anyway, that's it for now!

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it, and I will speak to you all very soon!

Have a great summer!

Eva

Everything at once

I'm incredibly lazy. I know that. But hey! At least I'm also able to admit it!

I've been wanting to blog on here so many times but just closed my eyes and sat in the sun instead. Well, I've finally come to terms with myself and I'm currently also in the sun; eating some yummy fruit and updating my blog. A lot has happened the past days, and I'm going to try and put each thing in a separate blog-post. (Hopefully in the right order as well)

First things first:

I finally updated my alphabet on Instagram! It took me a bit longer this time, because I had to find the (right) time to retake my photo for H. See, I hated the one I originally took... So I had to change that before posting anything onto my account. But it's up now! And it's also here for you to look at :)

I present to you, my object collage for the letter H:

H for Hair clips, Hilfiger fragrance, Hummingbird bakery and Heels!

Let's be real. Hair clips are super cute, but not very useful when your hair is super thick and curly. The only way those adorable little clips stay in my hair is when I'm wearing a pony-tail or a tight bun on my head. The real issue is that I wear my hair down more often than I wear it up, because of same lazy reasons, and I just keep on buying those little flowers and glimmers!

On to the Hilfiger fragrance... I wish I could tell you all about its lovely smell and how much I love wearing it, but I can't. See, this involves a little story-telling. A couple of weeks ago I had a dance performance in a city nearby. When the last dance had been performed my mum took me to Douglas because she needed a new eye-shadow. Obviously it took longer than expected, as does any shopping trip with my mum, and this employee was showing her how to apply a specific product. As I was waiting in a chair beside them, the woman felt a little bad and asked me if I wanted to get my make-up done as well. I shook my head no, because, well, after having danced my ass off I wasn't really in the mood for that. So to make up (pun not intended) for the time I spent waiting she gave me a bag of samples. (Which I absolutely love!) As excited as I was to have received a lot of new fragrances, my mum dropped the Hilfiger bottle and it shattered on the floor. Yup... My room smelled of perfume for the rest of the week. But hey! At least it wasn't anything I paid for ;)

*Shouts from the rooftops* HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY!!! Oh boy, where does one begin to describe their love for Hummingbird pastry recipes? Allas, I've never been to a Hummingbird Bakery Shop myself. But I sure do love using their techniques. My absolute favourite? Their Chocolate Chip Cookies. Without a shadow of a doubt. I love baking them, I love eating them, and I love surprising people by giving them. If my best friend Anne-Floor ever falls into a great depression I know the perfect way to cheer her up ;) I once said that the way to her heart goes through Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Time for my addiction... Heels. For crying out loud! Why are those things so tempting? I can't open an online store (like Boohoo) without drooling over the endless possibilities of heeled shoes! Not long ago I've set my eyes on this gorgeous pair from Boohoo, and I'm enduring real pain not being able to buy them. See, I've promised myself I would save up some money before going to Primark with Anne... AND IT'S KILLING ME. I suppose I never really realized how addicted I am to shopping... Now that I've literally restrained myself from shops like H&M, Monki and Boohoo I'm going through genuine withdrawal.

This was my Instagram Alphabet update for the letter H! I hope you liked it. Stay tuned because there will be more blog posts up today (and probably also tomorrow)

See ya!

Eva

Boohoo Shopping Haul

A few days ago I was watching one of Zoella's awesome videos where she did a shopping haul with clothes solely from Boohoo. I looked at her new clothes and got so inspired! So I ventured off to Boohoo.com, a British-International online fashion shop that has lots and lots of clothes with amazing quality and prizes. I ended up buying two dresses, one of which you can also see in Zoella's video :)

The first is a Cap Sleeve Bodycon Midi Dress and costed me only €12. The colour I picked is Charcoal, but it's also available in countless of other styles and/or colours. The fabric is super soft and makes the somewhat-tight dress extremely comfortable. My European size is 36, and the British size 8 fits perfectly for me. I especially love this midi dress because I find it compliments my length and hips and I also get to wear my favourite sandal-wedges underneath it. To quote my mum: "It's a sexy dress, but not in the exposing kind of way." I love that about it. I think it's elegant, sophisticated but also quite sexy. I would definitely recommend this dress to tall girls and/or girls who love to wear heels. I can't wait to stroll about in this dress when spring comes. ✿

The second dress I bought with the intention to wear to the beach or on a chill summer's day. I was right to buy it with this intention, for this Scoop Neck Maxi Dress isn't designed to take long walks in the city in. Although I love the shape of the dress, (tighter round the bum and looser at your feet) it can be quite the task to move around in. I think this will take some getting used to, and that eventually I'll get the hang of it; but for now I'm still scuffing around like a penguin in it. This might also be caused by the new sandals I was wearing underneath it, which, too, require some practice to walk in. This dress cost me €15, which I think is an amazing prize for the quality and fashion that you receive :)

The best part is still to come: Boohoo ships internationally, and free when your order is €25 or up! Free shipping!!! :'D On the website they state that the shipping takes 5-10 workdays, however my package arrived within two! I love everything about Boohoo, and so should you. ♥

I hope you all like my first Shopping Haul, for I expect more of them to come in the future ;)

Love,
Eva
 

Eeek, what objects start with the letter E?

You'd think it's easy to find object starting with the letter E, well, it isn't. Frankly, I find this collage a little boring compared to the others, but I'm posting it anyway :)

E is for Elastic bands, Earrings, Envelope, Eye shadow, Earplugs and Edgar Allan Poe.

Let's kick off with the main necessity in this collage; elastic bands. I wouldn't be able to live without them, honestly. I must say, though, that I wear my hair down more than I wear it up. (Which is solely because of my laziness) The past weeks I've been experimenting with different hairstyles, and I've come to find that I quite enjoy wearing my hair differently from time to time. My hair is curly and thick, and tends to be easily affected by the weather... Especially when it's raining... Lucky me, I live in the Netherlands! (Note: Sarcasm)  I've mastered the art of the "bun" on top of my head, although it hurts like hell to get all of my hair into one small, neat bun. I recently started wearing my hair in a high ponytail as well, and I'm currently practicing with braids :) And when I say practicing I mean cussing at tutorial videos on Youtube because they make it look so easy and I just can't seem to succeed.

If I was asked to give an example of an object of which I have hundreds but hardly use, I would say earrings. I recently gave a whole load of earrings away because I just didn't wear them. There are, however, like three favourite pairs which I do use: Including these little triangular earrings I bought at Parfois in Spain.

To return to a previous theme, I added one of the envelopes from my Snailmail box. This one I didn't make myself, but bought along with a cute postcard from Flow. I find it an adorable envelope with the little snail on it and the pretty use of colours (bright pink and beige). To tell you the truth, the inside of the envelope is even prettier :)

It took me a while to find a proper palette of eye shadow! I hardly wear it and the eye shadow that I do occasionally wear is all smudged inside the package so I figured that wouldn't look as pretty in the photograph. The only eye make-up I use is mascara and eye-liner, and I find that to be enough :)

Speaking of items I can't live without: Earplugs! (or earphones, whatever you call them) Oh, my, I don't know what I'd do if these weren't invented yet. I love listening to music while I'm cycling home from my dance classes in the late afternoon, or when I'm heading to the city on my own. I am, however, quite picky about when I listen to music outside. Like last week, when the weather was so nice and the birds were singing so prettily for the first time in months that I just couldn't bear blocking them out with One Direction :p I might as well just go ahead and say right now that I have a soft spot for birds... They are simply so cute and I love to hear them sing. I remember some time this winter I was sitting in class, taking some test, and all of a sudden I got really sad because I hadn't heard a bird sing for a very long time. And I couldn't figure out whether the birds were just gone or whether I had gone way too deep inside my mind. I just know that it made me very sad.

Edgar Allan Poe I sadly have nothing to say about. I just added this book to make the picture look pretty and I have never read a word of it. (shame on me) But, who knows! Maybe I will read it in the future and I will make up for this let down of a blog post ;)

In other news: I have been loving and obsessing over Zoella lately, and she posted a video on Youtube earlier this week showing the clothes she bought at Boohoo. I looked at her with awe. I more than loved the items she bought and couldn't help but browse through the amazing online Fashion shop as well. I just purchased a grey maxi dress, which Zoe is also wearing in her video, along with a dark grey midi dress. I am really excited for my package to arrive and to see how these longer dresses look on my body ♥ I have never worn anything like it before, so I am eager to find out. When they arrive, which should be within 5-10 workdays, I promise I will make a blog post about how they look :)

Love,

Eva

Cats, Cats, Cats

Hi everybody!
Another one of those lovely sunny days today ♥ I'm already dreading next week, for they say it will start raining again :( For now I'm enjoying every ray of sun I possibly can; absorbing vitamin D for the darker days to come :) Hence why I'm sat outside in the garden, blogging right now!
It's about time I posted my photo for the letter C, so that I can post them simultaneously on my blog and Instagram from now on. So here's C:

C is for Cats, Candle, Cards, Camera and Croptop. 

Let's start with the cats, shall we? :) I adore cats more than any other animal. The Cat in the left corner is a postcard I got through postcrossing, and it came from a Canadian guy who had a very interesting story to tell. This is his cat, and he photographed it to send it to me ♥ It was a really friendly guy, and it is one of my favourite postcrossing postcards. In case you do not know what postcrossing is, I suggest you stick around my blog for a while because I will be putting up a page about my snailmail projects :) The other little cat is my sister's and has no emotional value to me whatsoever, I just loved it in my photo with the little red accents. I have a real cat, too, by the way; only she hardly sits still so she was inefficient for my collage ;) You will find plenty of photos of her on my Instagram account, though, so you could check out the cutie there. ✿

Candles! I love, love, love, love, loooove candles. They just set a certain mood ♥ Especially during winter times do you find me running through the living room with matches because I want to light every single candle we own. I've always wanted little candles in my bedroom, too, but my mum won't allow me to have fire in there. She's probably right, though; I can truly imagine myself accidentally setting my homework on fire... But candles are simply so cute! I just know that when I'm older and have a place of my own; every room will have some candles in it.

You have no idea how much I loved playing cards when I was little. I only knew a few different games, but it was the perfect way for me to kill time. Presumably because when I grew up and went on vacations; there was no Wi-Fi around on campgrounds yet. Nor would I know how to handle a computer at that age, to be fair. I would play card games until everyone was sick of me, or I was tired of losing over and over again. The last time I played a card game was a year ago, when I had to find a way to entertain my Spanish exchange student who lived with me for a week. I taught her Dutch games and she loved them, but when she started teaching me Spanish games I was all at sea.

The camera in the photo is not mine, but my sister's. With the sole and obvious reason that I had to take the photo with my own. I love photography, but I hate my own camera. Well, hate is a strong word... I just don't know how to handle it well! I feel like the snap-button has to be pushed way too forcefully in order to take a picture; often leading to moved frames. I truly wish I was better at photography than I am. Especially when it comes to the camera on my phone:  I literally CANNOT take a proper photo with my phone without using a shitload of filters on it. However, I am completely up to learning. On that note: A Fujifilm Instax camera is high on my birthday-wishlist this year.

To anyone who has never worn a croptop before; please try one out sometime. They are EXTREMELY comfortable, and especially nice during summer. You can wear them with shorts when you're going to the beach or pool, or you can wear them the way I do: With high-waisted shorts/skirts/jeans. Do I write that correctly? Last summer I bought high-waisted denim shorts from AmericanApparel in Amsterdam and I had never been more happy with a purchase. I also wear croptops with my high-waisted black circle skirt from H&M and my higher jeans from Monki. I always like to say; if you have a nice belly, don't hide it! It deserves to be seen! You worked hard on it :) (At least, I know I did: Turns out those ab-workouts during my dance classes pay off after all!)

So that was C, I hope you liked it! I will be posting D very soon on my instagram: @evazuring

Lots of love,

Eva