Goat industry

Drastic times call for drastic measures. During my roadtrip, whilst on Terschelling, saw how farmers saved on fuel usage. Take a goat to replace the lawnmower. Portable home is included in price. Love it!

Great balls of fire!

Just for the memory and the brilliance (orig. from French briller, meaning to shine) of last night. 

Last night's lightning over Amsterdam came super close to a memorable experience!!

It actually shun so light, I am now terribly tired, need to catch up on sleep!

A shared future.

This time I am going to shut up and let Eve Ensler (known from Virgina Monologues) do the talking.

I invite you to listen to this inspirational talk. Click on Eve.

Favourite quotes

1/ These people, in the spirit of the warrior, have gone into the center,  the heart of pain, of loss, they have grieved it, they have dived into it, and allowed and encouraged poison to turn into medicin, they have used the fuel of their pain to begin to redirect that energy towards another mission.

2/ We are essentially prominently displaced people. All of us are refugees. We come from somewhere, and we are hopefully traveling all the time towards a new place. Freedom means I may not be identified as one group, I can visit and find myself in every group. In the shared future it will be just that, shared. the end goal becoming vulnerable, realising the place of our connection to one another, rather than being secure, in control and alone.

Road trip

Mother daughter road trip planned for the next four days. Apologies in advance for lack of postings. I shall be back!

Disappointed runners

Received the news today that my application for the NY marathon was denied. Unfortunately I was not selected in the random international lottery drawing for 2009.

The NY marathon being one of the most popular marathons, I foresee many disappointed runners on the road and in the parks today. Now, is this not an opportunity for some sporting brands to I create some kind of brand experience to catch us  consumers when we are feeling so low? At the very least, shall all the non-selected runners meet at one pub tonight and share some drinks? Dressed in your running gear obviously :)

It's a love-hate thing!

You love them or you hate them, the French! We Frenchies (yep, I was born in the city) value the good things in life such as food and wine, we can philosoph for hours on the meaning of a single phrase and above all, we are arrogant!! Which is absolutely fine if you are on vacation in beautiful provence with time in abundance.  However, if you are between four white walls, grey carpet, surrounded by colleagues, and just want to come to an agreement, Frenchies can sure be annoying!!!

That said, streetlab, a superactive dutch platform, there to stimulate young designers to rock to the top, are at it again! They have invited the best of the best French to show what they have got this coming weekend. Marrouska from Andrea Crews will be getting crazy again with the laces, and Pascal with the soulfood  (yummy).

I say, oui oui, on y va!

Most wanted dinner guest?

My good friend Misvid, or Dimitri Visser however you want to call him keeps me up to date on the latest and greatest of what is going on out there. What I like about Dimi (that is how I call him) is that he always seems to know what I am into.  And having Banksy as my mystery guest of honour at my next dinner party is the ultimate of cool, fun, and damn interesting. 

Banksy, give us a call next time you are in Amsterdam, I make great lemon cake!

Red light

Now, I am not a tech freak of any sort, but I do like practical simple ideas like this one. How about creating your very own bike lane whilst cycling in the dark streets of Amsterdam, Berlin or Paris? The guys at altitude are developing this red laser light, which when installed at the back of your bike will ensure visibility and space on the road. Not rocket science but still pretty ingenious if you ask me. Should be out in October, send it over to Europe please!

More Than a Game

I had the honour today to view an early screening of the documentary film More Than A Game . What once started as a ten minute homework piece of then student Kristopher Belman, turned into a seven year project during which Belman followed the amazing journey of now NBA superstar Lebron James and his equally talented bestfriends on and off the court.

A film to go watch even you don’t know the rules on the court! Ladies I promise, it is really more than just a game. This film goes back to core values in life and is not about flashy cars and stardom! Two big lessons from Mr Belman 1. Always start something that feels good, you never what it might lead to. 2. Don’t underestimate real people, we all have a story to tell.
And we all lived happily ever after :)

bike design for girls

I’ve been planning to buy a racing bike since a while. The company I work for has joined the Nederlandse fiets plan. This means that if you use your bike to go to work or to the train station to which you take your train to work, you receive your taxes back. And since I pay 42% taxes every month, I thought it was very worth while.

Now buying a bike is a pretty big decision, the budget involved is far more than my monthly fashion budget. And I definitely also know less about it. So it has been quite a journey to understand what factors should influence my buying decision. After visiting three stores, talking to over 10 core cyclists and looking consumer blogs, I can now generally say I know what I want. In super short, you have 3 brands playing in the entry price point: Trek, Cube and Specialized. Trek has the brand name and quality and generally higher price point, Cube have a standard frame and play on the insight that beginners are told they need a bike with good component groups, and thirdly Specialized, who have a better frame, and groups which are relatively the same standard as the frame, and lower price point. If you need more info, let me know! Specialized was my final choice.

The most surprising element that has come up in all the discussion is somewhat unexpected, at least for me.. It wasn’t how the different brands were feeding off the different perspectives consumers could take, or what was the best bike, no.. it came back to the female version of the bikes and helmuts. Definitely, there is an improvement in the whole girl topic. The designers have definitely thought about how a bike should be adapted to a female body (apparently we have longer legs than men :) ). Designers however also still keep making the basic mistake of colouring female bikes in light blue, lila or pink, preferably with flowering motives. Do you really think that a girl that loves the sensation of speed, has calve muscles that look like aubergines and tends to do sport everyday wants to have flower motives in pink on her bike? No thank you, just keep it sleek and slim, just like the men's toys! Thank you

may i introduce myself

It's girl time.

Yep, I've decided that the blogsphere needs some more female influence. Finally going to get this started, and share what is moving the world of young women out and about these days, from the perspective of a french, australian, and half swiss lady like me. Not here to change the world, but to share ideas and start a conversation. So if similar to me, you believe that all surroundings are a source of inspiration, be it human interaction, cultural influences, environmental circumstances or physical objects, our environment serves as a platform of creativity, then let's get going :)