The first I have in my living room and really need to get it fixed, the latter I’m borrowing while my brother is traveling for five months. Love both!

“A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” – Ghandi

I came across this quote thanks to my fellow TEDxAmsterdam blogger Barbara (if you’re slightly interested in food, design and sustainability than go read her blog). I read it just after having a vivid discussion with a colleague about a project that a client tries to push but that I, as a consultant, don’t believe in. The quote strengthened my feeling that I was doing the right thing by saying we won’t be doing the project. Now it’s our turn to create something new, have everyone inspired and get a yes from the client :)

I found this Ghandi statue in my former street, Churchilllaan in Amsterdam. I’m ashamed to admit I only noticed it three years after living there.

The one above is “Spring” from Martine Johanna, which is my third piece of her. Really love her illustrations, you should check them out. The big, bad wolf that keeps staring at you is by Tarik Arnoutovic, working under the name 215.dk.

Ok, we’re two weeks into the new year and I’m still debating whether new year’s resolutions are hopeless. But I believe you should take every moment you can get to reflect and to stick to something you want to try to achieve. So here’s my go to a happier me:

Enjoy
I want to enjoy life more, enjoy the good people around me, my new apartment, my job. Too often I find myself caught up in stress, negativity, ‘too busy to enjoy anything’ mode that I need to remind myself that I’m actually doing quite good.

Fall in love
It’s been too long and I miss it. Enough said.

Learn a language
I love learning new languages and besides English I haven’t been practising mine enough. So it’s time to enhance my German and to really learn another language: probably Danish or Swedish. Why? Just because I think it’s fun.

Read
I love to read, to dive into a new world and forget about my own. After reading a good book I can even get sad because the story is over. I want to read more books like that. And maybe, one day, I can have a beautiful bookshelf like the one here below :)

This also means I had to say goodbye to my place at Churchilllaan where I almost lived for 4 years. Unlike some other places I’ve lived, it felt like home and I will have fond memories of it. Goodbye…

P.S. Photo is taken with the Photosynth app.

I came across one of my many drafts, this one dated from April 18th, and was about a movie I had just seen:  Blue Valentine. I’m sure most of us have seen it by now, but I mainly wanted to post my favourite song of the soundtrack “You And Me” by Penny and the Quarters. Although it’s been over half a year, I still love it! Interesting background story of the song is that it was a demo recorded in the ’50s, but the record label that has only now used it for the film, still hasn’t een able to find the original band members.

They have built their first prototype and hope they will have a Feats per Minute in every city soon. Can’t wait!