Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

I promised myself to finally keep up to date with my blog. But again it didn't work out. How can I process blogging in my day-to-day life? I have been thinking about removing the blog and starting a new one, but apparently that is not possible when you use blogger.com. Therefore I'll keep on using lovelydutch.

So then, let's talk about what I am doing and will do today. Since the weather is realy nice, I've opened my windows for some fresh air and I'm cleaning my house. Normally I go home to my parents during the weekends, but this weekend I decided to stay here in Nijmegen to do some catching up with my homework and to make my room more livable again. For the rest of the day I will be cooking soup, pick up my bike and do some groceries. Sounds like a wonderful, relaxing day!



Flickr: dhammza

Finally, white Christmas holiday!

I think I haven't experienced a Christmasholiday like this one. In Holland, we're not used to lots of snow, so when last weekend the weather became really bad, traffic didn't work and people were advised to stay home! My Finnish friend was in Holland last week and I think she must have giggled some times about Dutch people being totally overwhelmed by the weather. In Finland of course, it's like this every year! And most of the times, it's even worse! So, we stayed home and did lots of fun things. We baked cookies, watched lots of SATC and we went to Amersfoort by bike, to do some shopping and to have some nice hot chocolat.It's a shame that the snow is gone now, it was lovely being outside!

Dreaming of being a princess

On Christmas day I went with my family to one of our national castles. Paleis Het Loo has been a museum for years, but before that, many Queens and princes and princesses lived there. It was a motley of all kinds of designs pulled together in different rooms. I've been there many times, but it's still very nice to go there and for two hours just dream of being a princess yourself, running through the hallways, riding horses and sleeping in one of those beautiful canopy beds!

The palace and its gardens


(Source: Apeldoorn.nl)

This is the lounge of King Willem II


(Source: tourpress.nl)

Amsterdam

Last Tuesday I went to Amsterdam again. I really love our capital city! It has beautiful architecture, the canals, lovely boutiques and bars. Everything my dreamcity should have. Maybe next September, I will move to Amsterdam, to start a new course: history of arts.

Alice

I bought this book of Alice in Wonderland, two weeks ago. I found this sweet poem in it:



All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict "to begin it" --
In gentler tones Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it" --
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast --
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"the rest next time --""It is next time!"
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowely, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out --
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! A childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's withered wreath of flowers
Plucked in a far-off land.

(Flickr: Finsbry)

To buy as many books for little money!

Later on, when I'm grown up, I wish to have bookcases just as big as my dad's, filled with exciting literature and romantic stories.



One of my hobbies of the last year is visiting bookstores, especially the old ones. I try to make a game of buying as many good books as I can, for little money. Last week I bought six books for only 5 euro's! My dad and I always go together, he's far better in the game than I am. Maybe, in future, I will become as good as he.

I've received my new book today! It's called Confessions of a Jane Austen addict and it's written by Laurie Viera Rigler. I'm really curious about the story, as the summary on the back of the book tells it's

A laugh-out-loud romp with a Regency heart, this delightful debut is a truly modern commedy of manners.

So, I will be reading this book all afternoon with cups of tea, mmm.

Don't you like the bookcover? I think it's really pretty.