More happy days – part 2

Day 111 – Delicious vegan dinner at Terra Zen, served by very friendly rasta guy

Day 112 – Beatiful autumn leaves and blue sky

Day 113 – 🙂

Day 114 – Reading Jules Verne for book club, my edition even has illustrations

Day 115 – My new backpack! (finally my old Eastpak can rest in peace)

Day 116 – Love Dutch efficiency, took just 19mn to have my consultation, pay for and get my yellow fever vaccination. I wasn’t even late for work.

Day 117 – Received The Optimist magazine in the post, a good read and some amazing photos

Day 118 – This postcard in the mailbox

Day 119 – Quiet sunday morning making crepes and reading

Day 120 – Sunset in the Jordaan on my way home

More happy days

Day 101 – Preparing a ‘bon voyage’ note is always a good excuse to use coloured paper and washi tape

Day 102 – Delicious greek dinner and many laughs

Day 103 – More baking… this chocolate cake is so simple and delicious (the trick is not to cook it much…;-)

Day 104 – Surprise birthday dinner sharing lots of amazing italian food, accompanied by guitar playing and singing

Day 105 – The sun setting over the Ij never gets old

Day 106 – Had a great (Gatsby) day: finished the book and watched the movie

Day 107 – Another gorgeous sunny morning having coffee overlooking the canal

Day 108 – This cute message tucked into my pinboard

Day 109 – A normal day in the office:-)

Day 110 – Went to Lush to stock up on my favorite shampoo (works great and no more plastic!!)

100 happy days – part 10!

Day 91 – Fresh apple cake, italian style recipe

Day 92 – Delicious pizza dinner after a long day of work

Day 93 – Visiting a wine cellar in Bordeaux (and more importantly drinking a lot of amazing local wines)

Day 94 – Wonderful feeling of coming home to find the flat very tidy and the bed made

Day 95 – Catching up over homemade tasty warm gratin

Day 96 – This cute post-it message stuck to this orange

Day 97 – The gorgeous view over the IJ (and the hillarious creative girly evening spent in Pllek)

Day 98 – Chilling in the sun with good coffee on my friday off

Day 99 – Spending the morning in the peaceful bee park in the Far West

Day 100 – Spotted this cute face winking at me on this beautiful night on the dock

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100 days!! YAAAYYY! I cant believe I did it and how fast it went! In total I missed 4 days, either because it totally slipped my mind or because I was sick.  Most days I remembered easily to snap a picture, however there were a few nights when I was already in bed and remembered at the last minute, so had to get back up and hunt around my appartment for something that makes me happy. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to find;-)

I did some statistics to see in numbers what made me happy on a daily basis:

View – 27 pictures were of the view as I moved around the city or a place I had been that day
Nature – 22 pictures were of nature and plants
Food and drinks – 17 pictures of what I ate, drank, cooked and enjoyed in these 100 days
Random – 13 pictures of things that don’t fall into any category, mostly around the flat
Creative – 7 pictures of hand made things
Travel – 6 pictures related to travel or in new destinations
Reading – 4 pictures of the books or magazines I was reading
Kindness – 4 pictures of gifts or linked to kind actions

What I loved about this project was gathering the pictures after 10 days, and looking back at all that had happened in such a short time. I didn’t take any pictures of people, but many of the drinks, books, views, creative sessions and meals in these pictures are linked closely to the people I shared them with. I feel very grateful for all the wonderful things in my life and all those special moments:-)

100 happy days – part 9

Day 81 – Guide books from the library to prepare my upcoming trip

Day 82 –  Having a spontaneous drink in the sun with colleagues after work and trying South African cider for the first time

Day 83 – My collection of washi tape

Day 84 – Having fun playing creatively with some paint and our stamps after dinner

Day 85 – A long and beautiful walk in Kennemerduinen to get some fresh air. I love these scottish highland cows that graze around the park!

Day 86 – Spending the afternoon in the sun picking fruit

Day 87 –  Originial Aussi Milo brought back from Australia by one of my colleagues – tastes just like when I was little!

Day 88 – Colourful collection of the postcards from all over the world on my fridge

Day 89 – Cycling home through the Vondelpark right between two heavy rainshowers

Day 90 – A lovely lady in the neighbourhood created this amazing panel full of little love notes you can cut off! Such a nice idea:-)

Apples, pears and sunflowers

Last weekend the weather was promising, and after spending all week indoors at work, pining after the sunshine from behind my desk, I really felt the need to spend some time outdoors.  I’d read about a new place in the far west of Amsterdam where we could go to pick organic apples and pears ourselves, but I couldn’t imagine what a magical place I would find in Fruittuin van West.

The staff was very friendly, explained what they will be growing there in the future and how to pick the fruit properly.The trees were laden with fruit. It was the perfect activity for a sunny Sunday to get some fresh air and be active outside.  In the end we carried home 10kg of delicious pears and apples. It was so much fun to pick our own fruit and much more satisfactory that just buying it at the market:-)

As we were leaving I realized we could also pick sunflowers on the other side of the street! There stood a wild field of amazing sunflowers – yellow ones and also orangey-red ones like I’d never seen, of all different heights and sizes… Simply gorgeous!

100 happy days – part 8

Day 71 – A creative evening spent with friends customizing t-shirts with home-carved potato stamps

Day 72 – Quiet afternoon walking around Amsterdam Zuid

Day 73 – Gorgeous mist in the Vondelpark while I cycled to work
(the picture doesn’t do it justice… it was even more beautiful)

Day 74 – Clearing out my cupboard, nice to be able to see in one overview what I have in there

Day 75 – Delicious tomatoes bought at the Haarlemmerplein market, i love their shape and symetry:-)

Day 76 – Drinks at Tolhuistuin while the sun goes down on the IJ

Day 77 – A wonderful letter from my sister with one of her drawings and a handmade card

Day 78 – Enjoying the sunshine while checking out the plants in the urban garden across the street

Day 79 – One lone flower standing tall

Day 80 – Testing my armadillo linoleum stamp

100 happy days – part 7

Day 61 – A delicious dinner and improvised workshop where a friend taught us to carve stamps out of linoleum. So much fun (and therapeutic;-)

Day 62 – Beautiful sky at dusk

Day 63 –  Sun setting on peaceful Amsterdam Zuid

Day 64 – Fairy lights (a cosy alternative when the lightbulb breaks)

Day 65 – Delicious home-cooked indian dinner in good company

Day 66 – This bike is often parked outside my flat, and whenever I see it it makes me smile:-)

Day 67 – Shiny green new leaves on this plant on my windowsill

Day 68 – This amazingly delicious block of fudge, straight from Scotland – yuuuummmmm!:-)

Day 69 – A gorgeous orchid blooming unexpectedly on my balcony

Day 70 – Reading a real page-turner for the book club (nice change from Moby-Dick;-)

100 happy days – part 6

Day 51 – A walk on a grey and windy saturday, brightened up by this cute little snail snuggling among the figs

Day 52 – Finally the sun came out from behind the clouds

Day 53 – This rainbow spotted from the balcony

Day 54 – This whale reference in a sidestreet near work (since reading Moby Dick I’m spotting things about whales in the most unexpected places!)

Day 55 – The view from my bedroom as I wake up (with a tiny bit of blue sky)

Day 56 – All is peaceful on the Brouwersgracht on my way to work

Day 57 – Love the light over the Ij around sunset

Day 58 – A simple decoration on our table at American cafe

Day 59 – Decided on a whim to go see this exhibition and loved  the photos and the audioguide of the photographer explaining the stories behind his pictures

Day 60 – Enjoying a drink, picking angel cards and having a good laugh to relax after work

 

100 happy days – part 5

Day 41 – First time I saw (and tasted!) a melanzana rossa (red eggplant) from the Pollino – such a cute vegetable!

Day 42 – I love the fountains (Nasone) all over Rome where you can drink fresh water for free when walking around in the heat becomes unbearable.

Day 43 – Pizza al taglio and suppli… the perfect lunch!

Day 44 – Magic hour in Rome, the atmosphere was beautiful walking through the city center on our last evening

Day 45 – Ploughing through Moby-Dick, I would have probably quit if it wasnt for the book club. I never thought I would learn so many details about whales.

Day 46 – My plants survived my absence, this one surprised me with these wonderful flowers

Day 47 – This tiny merman sticker from my friend now decorating my journal

Day 48 – Delicious dinner with my colleagues at Tolhuituin with lots of laughs (plus I love the vertical plant wall)

Day 49 – Reading Flow in the sun by the fountain after a day of work… so relaxing!

Day 50 – Arriving dry – despite the rainshowers -at Pacific Parc to meet up with friends and celebrate my birthday:-)

100 happy days – part 4

Day 31 – Exploring Villa Ada

Day 32 – Clouds over a beautiful view of Rome seen from between the trees in Villa Sciarra

Day 33 – Roaming the streets of Rome

Day 34 – On our way to Calabria where the beach and sea awaits us for a holiday of total relax

Day 35 – Vibo Marina in the evening

Day 36 – Watching the waves is so meditative

Day 37 – Huge fico d’india carrying lots of fruit (prickly pears!)

Day 38 – Pebbles and waves

Day 39 – The sea so transparent at Paradiso del sub

Day 40 – One of the friendly geckoes who came out at night to eat the bugs and mosquitos (‘La zanzara tigre, la batteremmo!’)