You don't judge a book by its cover, but you DO judge your tea by its packaging. The moment I layed my eyes on Mr. Jones tea, I was sold. Yes, it was the packaging that sealed the deal. I mean, doesn't it look all luxurious and whatnot! The main trick was to find a tea where the ingredients would agree with my body, and so I did! Clap your hands like a mad woman!!

I've chosen Little Green Bag, a biological green tea from India. It's absolutely delicious and soothing at the same time. And fairtrade (just to add to the list).


Green tea comes from the monastery gardens in China. Nobody really knows how or when the stuff has been discovered, but there's a somewhat origin story even Spiderman would've been jealous of:

The story goes that emporer Shen Nung (2.737 - 2.697 B.C.) noticed that his water became green due to a wild shrub it was standing next to. The emporer took a sip anyway (because who cares that it might've been poison or somethin') and liked what he was tasting. And ta-da, there was green tea. A good magic trick, if you ask me. The only shady thing about this story is that we all know that green tea rather looks more like piss. But ya know, that would've been a whole other story to tell... Drink up me hearties yo ho!


From China, the tea made its way to Tibet, Japan and India, before arriving in Russia and Europe. Yes, we were late to the party, as usual, but we're trying to catch up on all those bygone tea sipping days. It's a hard task, I know, but one I'm willing to face. *sips some green tea*


Green tea has be known as a medidine for quite some time. Just a cup of two à three per day can make a whole lot of difference. Scientifically proven!

First of all green tea stimulates the blood flow to your brain, which improves your concentration and ability to learn. Also -because green tea is full of minerals and vitamines and stuff (hey, I'm no scientist!)- it improves your digestion, it gives you stronf and healthy teeth and bones AND drinking green tea has influence on the prevention of heart and vascular diseases.

And if that's not enough for you, it also gives you a firmer skin (if you've got red-coloured or irritated skin, drinking green tea actually helps to reduce this) and it makes your hair look shiny. I mean shiny hair! If that isn't doing it for you, than nothing will!


Anyway, bag to Mr. Jones (that's a pun. Ya know, tea bag. hahaha, I'm funny). Mr. Jones is a Dutch company that "has been founded on the belief that tea is truly tasteful when its fine flavour is established through a responsible method of production." HALLELUJAH! So basically all of their tea is biological, healthy, organic, environmental-friendly, people-friendly and most of their ingredients are bought under Fair Trade conditions (and otherwise Mr. Jones "makes a reservation for an extra sum to be used for charitable purposes"). You're my kind of guy, Mr. Jones! *sips some more tea*

Love,
Dominique

Due to the heatwave I've temporarily moved from the attic to my sister's bedroom. Now I know that I'm not a total joy to share rooms with, which I think is almost as important as indeed being someone with whom it's a total joy to share your room with. My main problem lies in the 'sleeping' part. Don't you worry, I'm not that kind of gal that'll keep you up all night by sharing insignificant life stories. No. I will keep you up all night by my snoring, talking (or rather mumbling. Which is, as I see now, in a way keeping you up by telling you insignificant life stories... But does it count when it's done subconsciously?) and last but not least I grind my teeth together and making a weird sound doing so. I cant help it!


Last night I was deeply dreaming a dream about unicorns and whatnot, until suddenly I felt something against my skin. I open my eyes and yell "WHAT THE F ARE YOU DOING!!!" (the 'F' naturally being a curse word, but we're keeping it family friendly today). It was naturally my sister, who in all her concerns of my sound making machine, put a hand on my shoulder -as of being a sign 'that everything's alright'. Well, it obviously wasn't for me!! Although I must admit that within seconds I'd closed my eyes again and went on snoring as if my life depended on it. Leaving my sister in shock. First of all naturally because of my sudden outburst and secondly because of my great power to go back to sleep as if nothing had happined AND still being able to remember the incident the next morning. I know, I'm a miracle worker.


Anyway, it's probably unnecessarily to say so, but it's BLOODY HOT!! As my mum pointed out to me the other day, it'll -psychologically- get more hot when you keep saying that it's hot. But I can't help it, everyone around me, including mum the elderly wise woman, keep saying it is. An naturally besides the fact that it ACTUALLY is pretty damn hot. I really worry about the extremes the weather is taking these last couple of days, weeks, months, years... Makes you wonder about the future (aka I will emigrate if the climate here desides to take a turn for the worse). 


If the weather is good for one thing, it's that it might be perfect to just sit around and be. Just be. With sweat slowly creeping down your spine. I've occupied myself by crochet (knitting is absolutely out of the question and in the mornings crochet can be acceptable up to a point. I've just finished a cropped jumper in squares (coming soon. Well.... when the weather has cooled down drastically). And at the moment I'm full in business with a shawl. I know, very temperature friendly. It's better then my sewing plans: a fake fur green jacket with matching hat. I'm sorry).

Love,
Dominique

I hope that all of you had a wonderful intergalactic UFO World day! Now I'm quite familiair with these kind of 'appearances'....

I've got a lot of UFOs lying around my house. It doesn't matter how hard I try, every day there seems to appear more and more of them (mostly green) buggers. Slowly creeping upon me at night. I've got nightmares of them abducting me to their world (although who's to say that they're JUST nightmares...). It's something I've probably inherited from my grandma. She was almost otherworldly herself...


I'm naturally not talking about unidentified flying objects (and their alien companions), but about un-finished objects. And man! Have I got a lot of those! They just seem to create themselves.... I hope that fellow creatives can relate to my problem: You start with something, then you start with something else, and then you start with something else else. And the pile just keeps on growing without anything ever getting finished.



As I stated above, it's a trade that doesn't come far from home. The main problem is just that I want to do a lot at. Like a lot a lot. No day can past without me having an idea of some sorts. It's actually becoming a problem. A very enjoyable problem, though. I never get people who are bored or don't have hobbies. I've always got something to do! I'm practically living in it. It's always staring at me. I can't escape. Send help.


Luckily I'm not alone in my mania. My mum very much stimulates this behaviour (minus the UFO-part) and introduces me to all kinds of brilliant ideas (mainly involving stories about her younger version and the things she'd made/wore. I mean, a knitted pink bathing suit. YES PLEASE).

So this all doesn't really stop me from further indulging. I basically love balls of wool and rags of fabric and, ya know, I just can't bare an open space in the cupboard. So my mum and I did a big splurge during the Drops sale on Wolplein/Yarn Plaza. IT WAS FANTASTIC! And to prove that we've made marvelous choices, I've made a haul video for you. Yes you! Aren't you a lucky person... So if you want to see this especially made for you video [click here]. Otherwise don't. It would be sad, though, if you didn't. You'd be missing out on a lot of futuristic UFOs...

I come in peace!

Love,
Dominique

A week or two ago I was in a charity shop roaming around. Suddenly a girl came up to us and asked if she may ask us a question. My mum was on the verge of saying "sorry I don't work here"(you'll be surprised how many times my mum gets asked if she works in the shop. She doesn't), when the girl continues to talk. You might've guessed, she wasn't asking my mum for her assistence. The girl in question -aka Sabine- wondered if I'd like to be featured on her blog Trashfashion.

Sorry what?

If I like to be featured on her blog as a Trashfashionista? Not what we were expecting her to say. Not in a million years. But YES. NATURALLY. And after some mailing traffic, here it is! Mindblowing!


So here we are, looking at all the pictures that didn't make the cut... For outfit details [click here]. And yes there are even more outtakes that are too grotesque to show the world (but I'm sure you can imagine how they might look).

To be honest, I felt rather emotional about the whole thing. Especially the kindness from Sabine's side. I mean, it's one thing if your mother says that you look nice, but it's something entirely different if a stranger says it to your face (I'm still really flattered by your compliments mum! It's not you, it's me!).


Anyway, what is a Trashfashionista??? Well, my dear darlings, a Trashfashionista is someone who buys her clothes in a charity shop and looks fabulous doing so. Now I wouldn't necessarily classify myself as being fabulous (but I'm coming closer to it everyday), but I indeed do most of my shopping down in the charity shop. Except, as I told Sabine, for shoes. Not because I'm scared for previous sweaty feet that may have walked those shoes. I mean, once you've crossed the line between finding a (used) handkerchief TWICE in your beloved items, and you still take it -including handkerchief and all- home with you, there's nothing really stopping you for some sweaty feet. Bring on those stinky walkers! No. My main problem is that I just can't find a pair in my size. I know, poor me.

Thus if you'd like to read the interview (in Dutch. But that's why they've invented Google Translate) and see some snazzy pictures taken by my mum, than [click here].

Love,
Dominique