my little vegetable-garden

Gardening.. I love it, but I must admit that I'm not the best gardener out there.

Mostly because I tend to get lazy with it, and forget to water them and that kind of stuff..

But last year I made a change (yes we can!) and started my own little vegetable-garden on my roof-terrace.

I did kind of start it in a spontaneous act, since the shop I work in was selling 1,20 m (4feet?) square gardens, and I just instantly bought one.

So the start was there.. and it really got me going !

I now am a proud gardener (trying to be) and the work and love I put into my vegetables is really paying of!

Especially my paksoi, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots are doing great.

Every day I go on a little trip to my roof-terrace, water them, remove dead leaves, and go back down with a whole load of fresh and tasty tomatoes!

I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do, and the best part is the fact that I can share my vegetables with friends and neighbours since it is way to much for just me (and my love) to eat.

So here is a picture to show you how it all started.. when my baby's where so small <3

Oh yeah...I will not post a picture of how my garden looks now.. my tomatoes are really dominant and are planning a take over of my entire terrace.. 

hmm.. hoping I can stop them before they've gone to far :p

Favorite places.

My house is located in not the most beautiful neighborhood of my hometown,
the houses are simple, square, grey-ish, 2 floors high and they all stand 12 in a row.
Its not the kind of neighborhood in wich people go for a 'lovely walk'.
No.. its more the kind of neighborhood where everybody gets in their car to get the hell out of there.
BUT! there is one, kind of hidden place, wich not much people know of but that enchants me everytime I come by.
When I go for a walk with my little fluffy dog, and walk out of our gardens backdoor, there is a little lane of grass and a ditch between our row of houses and the next, over wich there is a little wooden bridge .
And when you stand on that bridge, you have the most amazing vieuw on the ditch and the trees.(right behind the trees there are houses, but you don't see them!)

When I stand on this exact spot it feels so pure and forgotten.
I especially adore that willow ! I love the way the leaves gently touches the water.

So now you know one of my favorite beautiful places near my house <3 

2nd hand shopping

Today it was a truly sad and rainy day.
And also, the last day of my 3 week holiday. (back to work tomorrow!)
So I had planned on a whole day long doing notasinglething. :) haha
But then one of my dear friends called me and asked if I wanted to come with him (drive him) to the thrift-store here in my hometown, and so we did.
I'm a big fan of second-hand shopping, I like the cheap prices, the big mess it looks like, and the old treasure's you can find.
So of course.. I bought something.. since I never seem to make it out off those shops without spending a single bit of my money .

The first item I bought is this sort of can (?) made from copper.
I bought it for €9,95 (around $12) and I just can't wait to do something with it.
Its a little higher than 16inch and I can totally imagine this on our sidetable with a couple of long flowers in it , like Delphiniums, and some grasses. So Lovely! 
(If I do, I'll make sure to share some pictures! and yes, I will use a glass vase inside this copper one to protect the flowers & the can)

The second item I bought is this sweet little leather purse that cost me €5,- ($6,22).

Its square, and there is a litlle (working!) lock on top of it.

It also has a lot of space, wich I didn't expect at first but it opens up a lot wider than I thought it would, and a lot of different little pockets.(and a tiny mirror!)

And those little pockets are very handy considering all the useless things I cary around with me every day! hahaha

So what do you think ? good buys or waste of money ? 

How to enjoy Flowers

I'm a florist, and not just one of those 'I-had-to-do-something-for-a-living-florists', but one of them 'I-really-really-really-LOVE-flowers-florists'.
I've been working as a florist for over 4 years now and I can still get (very) exited by the sight of a fresh load of beautiful flowers.
I love the bright colours, the subtile scent and of course the true Gorgeousness!
So I decided to make some sort of 'manual' with a couple of tips on how to enjoy Flowers to their fullest:

#1. Good.
When you buy flowers, make sure that they're of a good quality .
And yes, that can also be at a gasstation or supermarket! But I would only buy them on the day they arrive there, since the employee's usually don't take good care of the flowers after that day... (sorry)
Make sure the flowers you buy look fresh, smell fresh and that there are no weird brown spots or so on the flowerpedals or leaves.

#2. Clean.
Its important that you put your flowers into a clean vase, filled up with fresh (warm) water.
Use some kind of preservative and make sure there are no leaves in the water to reduce growth of bacteria's.
Also refresh the water every 2/3 days to help prolong your flowers life .

#3. Cut.
Another important thing is to cut the stems, make sure that you cut the stems diagonally about 2 inches from the end with a sharp knife (not scissors) so the flowers have a good , clean wound to get their water from.

#4.Cool.
The higher the tempareture, the faster your flowers will deteriorate.
So try to keep them as cool as possible, so dont put them into direct sunlight, near the fireplace or some other place thats significantly warmer than the rest of the house.

#5. Mature.
I think the most important thing to share here is this fact :
You are better of when you buy flowers that are lightly to almost mature.
Where I live and work (The Netherlands) most people want their flowers to be as tightly closed as they can possibly get them, and then, when they don't mature (suprise!?) they come back to complain about it.
So, if you want to buy flowers that bloom gorgeously, buy them a little more matured !
This will not only ensure you they have a longer vase-life but they also look much better right from the first day!

-If you have any questions, let me know , and I will answer them as good as I possibly can.

Braids

Yesterday I went to the 'Gaypride canal parade' in Amsterdam with 2 lovely friends of mine, but the only little downpoint was that the two of them were already in Amsterdam while I had to come from my hometown, wich meant I had to go 45 minutes by train on my own. (sadface)

Now I know thats not really a downer, but knowing how easily I get bored and usually spent most of the time on my phone minding other people's bussiness, I took some thin leather strings with me to braid . 

So yeah, braiding is one of those things that I really love to do ever since I was a kid, and it seriously calms me down & is a great way to kill time, like I did on the train.

This braid I made out of 5 strings that were each about 39inch long, and even though no one in the train said something about it I know they secretly thought 'thats awsome!'.. or at least I hope they did ^^ haha

OH! and the canal parade was great too, we've had a wonderfull-wonderfull day.