Vintage Hairstyles & 1920s Party Photos

When I posted some personal photos on Instagram back in December from my work 1920's themed Christmas Party, some of you commented on how you loved my hairstyle! Well as I admitted here; a lot of us ladies had our hair professionally styled by Jess from Powder Puff & Pin Curls who specialises in vintage hairstyles. We recently received the professional photos from the party and thought I'd share some of the gorgeous black and white pictures that really add to the whole vintage feel of the event :)

More photos after the jump....

Merry Christmas to you!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Here some Instagram photos of my last few days! I'm celebrating the holidays with my family in The Netherlands but we also made a quick overnight trip across the border to Germany to browse around the Christmas markets in Münster.

Enjoying the Weinachtsmarkt in Germany. Lights everywhere, glühwein, lebkuchen and bratwurst!

I baked a traditional Dutch Christmas bundt cake! Christmas tree bauble, feeling festive in my reindeer socks and Christmas crackers for the table decorations.

Preparing Christmas dinner; we have some vegetarians in my family so this year it's Jamie Olivers cranberry & pistachio nut roast as one of the many courses for our Christmas day feast. Last night we went to the Christmas midnight mass and today I did even more baking; the most delicious gooey chocolate crinkle salted caramel cookies ever... (recipe to follow!)

A quick run at the beach earlier today and now I am relaxing, eating and drinking with family...

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and loved ones! Xoxo

 

DIY Instagram photo collage

A little while back I was thinking about what to get my flatmate for Christmas and thought a photo collage of our favourite pictures from our holiday to New York together would be a really nice idea. I wasn't really sure how to go about this project until I stumbled across this brilliant website! Printstagram is the perfect way to enjoy and share your Instagram photos. The website connects to your Instagram account where you can select your favourite images which you can then get printed in several options; memory boxes, squares, calendars, mini books, stickers or even a poster.

I opted for their squares to start my little DIY photo collage project after I had found some examples of making a collage with these in the Internet. For the squares they have two size options; mini squares (2.5 x 2.5 inches) in a set of 48 or their standard squares (4x4 inches) in a set of 24. Once you select the images you want, they are then printed on quality paper with a nice matte finish plus a neat white trim. You can pay via PayPay (easy!) and then they are posted out to you! I had a mix of NYC holiday photos and some of my other favourite pictures I wanted to get printed so I decided to get 2x sets of 24 standard squares which only cost $25/£15. It was so easy to order and when they arrived on my doorstep after about 2-3 weeks I was very excited! I LOVE them; they are such great quality and look super cute :)





Now the next thing I needed for my DIY project was a photo frame. I found this great simple large white frame at Marks & Spencer's but IKEA also has some lovely frames with cool raised edges (link).

 

The frame I bought came with a premade insterted border for 7 photos but I didn't need that so I just took that out and was left with a large white sheet of paper which I could use to adhere my prints to. Most photo frames come with these back sheets which is perfect but if yours doesn't, then don't stress, you can easily improvise by using any kind of paper/cardboard and cut it to size.

Next up was the fun part; choosing and arranging the photos. In this frame, it perfectly fit 20 squares (4x5) I had about 30 New York photos to pick from so it was still a tricky task to decide which ones wouldn't make the cut ;)

 

 

After a bit of playing around with the squares I was left with my final collage!

 

Now that you have the images all in their right position, all you need to do is adhere your photos to the white cardboard. For this you can use any kind of glue stick, nothing fancy required. So I got out my trusty Pritt!

Apply the glue to the back of the squares and then just stick them onto the sheet in the order you want. I was very lucky that with this frame it was a perfect fit and they all aligned perfectly which meant no little trimming tasks where needed.

 

It didn't take too long to do and quickly my sheet was filled with all the pretty squares! I popped the sheet back into the frame, placed the glass back on and TADA my DIY Instagram photo collage was done!

 

 

I absolutely loved the end result and couldn't wait for Christmas time to give it to her! We exchanged gifts on Thursday and she seemed to love it so mission accomplished :) I still have more squares left so think I will get myself one of the IKEA frames soon for my own personal Instagram photo collage!

 

 

Do you think this is a project you might try for yourself or as a gift? Oh and if you would like to follow me on Instgram, I am 'dutchessroz'!

 

Tim Walker - Story Teller at Somerset House

One of my favourite photographers is Tim Walker. I think he is, without a doubt, the world's most visually exciting and influential fashion photographer. Walker's work is dazzle with life, full of magic, and plenty of humour. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that Somerset House is currently hosting a major exhibition of Tim Walker's iconic photographs and props at their East Wing Galleries in London.

Supported by Mulberry, Tim Walker: Story Teller showcases 175 of Walker’s most fantastical works from the pages of the world’s leading magazines: British, French, American and Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker among many others. A couple of weekends ago I made my way to Somerset house to check out the exhibition! Here some sneaky pictures I took during my visit to share with you all..

 

The exhibit is free and open to the public until 27th January 2013 (link)

I love going to museums or exhibitions in the weekends, do you?

Focus...

That time of the week again! 

I feel it is very important to keep a healthy sense of perspective in life and keep focussed on the good :)

Also as you know I was at home in the Netherland last weekend so here a quick collection of pictures:

Attending my sisters PhD ceremony - feeling very proud of her for this amazing achievement! 

When at home I can never resist a delicious piece of traditional Dutch apple pie

Comfy and casual outfit of the day; distressed jeans, leather converse high tops, leopard print scarf

Strolling around the picturesque town of Delft - check out the lean on the church tower ;)

Yes it's that time of the year again; indulging in Oliebollen! 

Showing my friend around Delft

We spotted several 'horse parking spots' for St Nicolas shopping loading zone haha

 My hometown, beautiful The Hague!

Parliament building and Grote Markt square at night

On Saturday we made a little day trip to Amsterdam where we biked around, caught up with friends and walked around the rainy, but still very pretty, canals. Lunch was a grilled goats cheese sandwich with walnuts and honey at Cafe Nielsen in the Nine Little Streets area of Amsterdam (which has lovely boutiques and restaurants). Dinner and a couple of glasses of red were consumed at Boca's in the Jordaan; a fun casual platter restaurant/bar.

On Sunday I took my friend for a walk along the beach but we experienced some crazy winds that day; we almost struggled to move! After being completely blown away on the beach we warmed up again over hot chocolates and poffertjes.....yummmmm!

Ps: If you fancy being friends on Instagram, you can follow me at Dutchessroz

Happy Hump Day everyone :) 

Sunrise run at my Zen place!

I'm back home in the Netherlands at the moment for a long weekend for a family occasion. One thing I always try to do when at my parents place is to go for a walk or run at the beach. My parents live in The Hague, just behind the dunes by the sea so it's only a 5 minute walk from home to one of my favourite places in the world. In general I'm definitely a person that loves being near water but the beach by my parents house is truly my personal 'zen' place! I don't know what it is but going for a walk there along the coast, feeling the wind against my skin, hearing the sound of the waves rolling in..it always puts my mind at ease and I feel in total peace. I always have the best and most honest conversations there with people and it's the one place where my mind can just roam free and I always feel better and happier once I've been there! So after arriving home on Wednesday night the first thing on my agenda for Thursday was a sunrise run on the beach..and I was lucky because it was a stunner of a day! It was a bit chilly but so worth it, just look at this..

I am currently trying to increase my running training because I actually signed up to do my first 1/2 marathon in March, eeek! Recently my knees started playing up a little so I decided to invest in some new running shoes. They say you should get new ones every year but I admit I'd had mine for almost 2,5 years. Whoops!

I got these new Asics sneakers (link) and I have really noticed a difference so bring on those 21km I say ;)

A no make up, just out of bed shot of me during my run. I always need music when I am running to keep me going and energised!

Such a beautiful sunrise! I took this photo with my iPhone; no filter!

This is the sun shining through the trees in the dunes on my way back after my refreshing and super peaceful run. I felt tired, but satisfied and happy! I mean how can an amazing place like this not bring a smile to my face :)

Do you have a location that is your 'zen' or happy place? Xoxo

 

Tumblr - Life is like a box of chocolates....

I am a big lover of beautiful images and quotes to inspire me in life and I’m already addicted to Pinterest (follow me: link) to collect and organise my favourite things onto mood boards. I also knew of Tumblr’s existence, which is a very popular micro-blogging platform, but I just hadn’t got involved….mainly for the fact that I don’t really need another procrastinating pastime in my life ;) But after someone pointed out the website to me again last week I decided to take the plunge and sign up and it’s now fair to say I am completely hooked! I actually saw this quote on Tumblr today and think it sums the whole concept up quite nicely...

“A person’s Tumblr tells a lot about them. It shows what kind of images they see in their head, who they love, who they hate, even what they think about other people. But most of all – has all the words they never said to people, all the words they couldn’t have said but should have said.”

Check out my Tumblr page here. Are you on Tumblr? If you are, leave me a comment with a link to your page because I would love to find more great people to follow to share the love of images.
 

 

Probably one of my favourite quotes:
"Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are going to get!"
http://dutchessroz.tumblr.com

And it's that time of the week again. Loving this....

Happy Hump Day everyone :)

The perfect autumn Sunday...

Last weekend I was away with a girlfriend for some R&R in the countryside; you can read my first post about this here (link). So now onto Day 2 :) After having such a fab day full of fresh air, exercise, relaxing treatments and delicious food it's fair to say we slept like babies in our lovely room at The Olde Bell. We woke up about 9.30am, which is pretty rare for me to sleep in that late on a weekend (unless I have had quite a boozy night before that is..) so we just threw on some clothes to ensure we didn't miss the hotel breakfast buffet. And trust me, this is not one you'd want to miss. The breakfast display was rather impressive....

I had a ginormous bowl of natural yoghurt with their crunchy homemade granola topped with figs, stewed plums and a swirl of honey. I then also couldn't resist helping myself to some of the pastries and maybe even a toasted crumpet with peanut butter, yummmm!

After a our very fulfilling breakfast it was time to put on the wellies again (which were by now nicely covered in mud from the previous day's adventures) and head out into the fresh autumn weather!

Me outside our countryside retreat in the wee village of Hurley along the Thames. We walked along the Thames towpath and had fun playing around in the beautiful autumn leaves!

Jeans by Abercrombie & Fitch

Regent Savoy Wellington Boots by Hunter

White singlet & striped Blythe sweater by Abercrombie & Fitch (as seen here)

Navy waxed hooded jacket by Dorothy Perkins (as seen here)

We also made some new friends along the way....Haha approach with caution though ;)

A perfect countryside Sunday afternoon is not complete without a Sunday roast so I'd done a bit of research earlier in the week and had found that there was a fantastic gastro pub in the area. The Hinds Head in Bray is located in a cosy listed 15th-century building and is owned by UK Michelin chef Heston Blumenthal. The Hinds Head offer outstanding traditional seasonal cuisine and historic British dishes. Over the years it has received many awards for its food; in 2011 it was even named the Michelin Pub Guide’s “Pub of the Year”. So where better to go for our Sunday roast right?

The service was smooth and friendly and everything on the menu looked pretty mouth-watering but I knew pretty instantly that the pork roast had my name written all over it....

I love my Yorkshire puddings so I always order one on the side because traditionally they only come standard when you order the roast beef. But for me a Sunday roast has to include a yorkshire pudding which I then drown in lots of gravy! The roast also came with a lovely side of panfried beans and parsnip. C'mon how good does this look?

The pork was beautifully cooked and the roast potatoes were some of the best I've ever tasted. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft in the middle! And the best part?

The crackling!! Yummmmmmmmmm such a naughty treat but oh so tasty.

When our bellies were well and truly full after our delish lunch it unfortunately was time to head back to the city but we both felt super duper relaxed, refreshed and told ourselves; we should do this more often because this was really the perfect autumn Sunday!