Instagram!

Will I ever get the hang of this whole social media thing? Probably not, but I did get a little closer. I got Instagram! Yay! So check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/tessamargriet/. And let me know if you have a cool account I should follow!

Life in November!

I can't believe it's December already! Where has the year gone? I really wanted to get back into these montly picture updates. I always really enjoyed doing them and they are great to look back on. So eventhough I am a couple of days late, I decided to upload Life in November and get back into the swing of things. It's been a busy and interesting month. Check it out!

11-01-2015 -We started off the month with redecorating! Yay! I am currently sleeping in a bedroom with concrete floors and no lights, but that's okay. I am sure it will all be worth it in the end. This is the floor, the wallpaint and the wallpaper we picked out. What do you think? I think it looks lovely!

11-05-2015 - We headed to Amsterdam to see my all time favorite band in concert! The band is called Editors by the way. Good music, beer, no kids... Just something every mom needs every once in a while. Plus, it kinda feels like you're one of the cool kids when you're hanging out at concerts in Amsterdam, haha! I am definitely getting old...

11-14-2015 - Making snowmen out of marshmallows, salty sticks, puffed rice and chocolate pens. Because that's just what you do on cold and rainy days.

11-29-2015 - I just had to include this picture because it was such a precious moment. We were doing some early Christmas shopping and Charlotte found this elderly lady resting on a chair and for some reason they connected with each other. Charlotte crawled up in her lap and they just sat there cuddling together. They didn't even speak the same language but that didn't matter one bit. The lady was very touched by this spontaneous act of love and you could tell she got a little emotional. And for some reason everyone in the store just stopped what they were doing and just stood there smiling at this cute little moment. It really doesn't matter how different you are. As long as you have enough cuddles! The woman got her wallet and gave Charlotte 20 bucks for a present. How sweet is that?

11-29-2015 - I picked up the prettiest purse I have ever seen. I just can't stop staring at it. I am also redecorating my dressing room, so I can't wait for my bag display to be ready. This is obviously not going to be my daily bag, so I would love for it to have a place where I can still see and enjoy it everyday. It's the Mulberry Bow Clutch in Ballet Pink and it's from their 2014 collection. It is pretty much a wallet on chain, and I am able to wear it crossbody, as a shoulder bag and the chain is also completely removable to wear it as a clutch. It's a very multifunctional piece. I was able to pick it up with quite a discount from their factory shop, so that is always a bonus.

11-30-2015 - Going out for lunch with my co-workers. I never do this, but it was so nice to just have lunch away from work for once. Definitely something I plan on doing more often. I had a delicious sandwich wih blue cheese, walnut, pear, honey and red onion. Yum!

Well, that was it! I hope you all had a lovely month. Let's get December going! :)

Back in London!

So...did I ever mention I love London? If I ever had to leave my hometown for some reason, this is the city I would want to move to. I don't know what it is, but visiting London always feels like coming home for me. This time I visited the city with a friend of mine. It turned out to be an amazing and completely stress free trip. As a parent you are so used to having your kiddo around that you completely forget what it was like to just enjoy a good cup of coffee and a scone without attending to someone else's needs all the time. But that beeing said...I did miss my little terror! :)

Bye France! We actually travelled to France and took the boat to England from there. We saw a refugee camp there with Syrian refugees. That was quite impressive to see. And it defintely made me realise how lucky I am to be travellling through for an entire different reason. 

You can't travel without a little caffeine! Enjoying some Starbucks coffee while enjoying the view. 

The famous white cliffs of Dover. I had never seen these before, so that was kind of cool! We arrived in England around sunset, so the ride to our hotel was amazing. I loved the English scenery! 

Chilling at Hyde Park. Because that's just something you do when you're in London. It's mandatory. 

The Marble Arch!

A Disney store on Oxford Street! I can't believe I didn't notice that the last time I was there! I obviously had to go in and pick up a present for Charlotte. It was so hard picking just one thing though. They had so many cute toys! 

London by night! You can see the London Eye in the background. We also did a night tour around the city to see all the famous hotspots, but my phone battery died. But if you're interested in that sort of thing, check out the blogpost from my London trip from last December: London, Baby! :) 

We also visited a new town. Well, it was new to us. The town itself is actually medieval, haha! We visited Canterbury! 

Enjoying some carrot cake and a cappuccino at the town square. This is the life my friends! But after our visit to Canterbury it was time to head home again. It was a long way home, but it was definitely worth it. London is always worth it. ;)

Oui, Oui... Paris!

Unfortunatly my summer holiday is coming to an end... But not before I share some pictures of out summer holiday in Paris! We had a great time and the weather was actually pretty okay too! I was a bit worried about safety issues, since there have been some terrorist attacks in France recently. But luckily we didn't notice much of that at all. The only thing that was a bit intimidating was the military security at one of the bigger train station in Paris. Army men with big automatic weapons...that's just a sight I am not very used to and probably never will be.

Charlotte kicking a ball at the vacation park we stayed at. This park was called 'Le Chene Gris' in Pommeuse and it was very close to Disneyland and the city of Paris. It was also very kid friendly. There was an animation team for the little ones, lagune pools, mini disco and different playgrounds. Charlotte had the most wonderful time there! The caravan we stayed in was perfect. It had a little porch and it was clean and tidy. It had everything we needed. A very comfortable way of doing some family camping!

Obviously we had to visit Disneyland! We started our vacation with some cloudy weather, and we decided that would be perfect for visiting the park and that we would safe the 'sunnier' days for other activities. I was really excited about showing Charlotte the 'It's a small world' ride, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance. That was a bit of a bummer. But it didn't stop us from making the best of it!

Anna and Elsa! We're in a Frozen fase right now, so it was very magical to see the characters in 'real life'.

Riding the tea cups...and loving it!

Turned out a lot of the attractions at Fantasyland were quite scary. Especially the Snowwhite ride (it was really dark and it had a scary looking witch that seemed to pop up everywhere). Charlotte would even end up sleeping in our bed that night because she had some scary dreams about it. She kept telling us she wasn't scared though, but as a parent you just know. So we decided to take it easy with this little boat ride around different fairytales and a simulair train ride. Very cute and laid back attractions for all ages!  

The most magical of the day was definitely the parade! We got to wave at all our favorite Disney characters and the parade ended with the big mouse himself!

Charlotte infront of the Eiffel Tower! 

A close up of the detailing...absolutely gorgeous! I had no idea how much detail went into building this thing. Obviously I've seen a lot of pictures of the Tower in the past but I never noticed this. That's really why you need to go see this thing in real life. It's much prettier than you think!

This is the view of the Notre Dame from the little terras we decided to sit down for our lunch. I ordered a plain cappuccino that I paid 6 bucks for...that was the second most expensive plain cappuccino I ever had! But the view was worth it. The most I spend on a plain cappuccino was at Harrods London. That sucker cost me 8 bucks! Speaking of London, I might go back there this year!

We got a metro pass that allowed us to travel all through Paris. You kind of need that because all the big highlights are actually very far apart. Paris is a big city! The Metro system kind of reminded me of the one in London. It's actually very simulair and as easy to use! I snapped a piture of this cute old little entrance sign at one of the Metro stations...I believe this is the one at Cité...How cute is this?

Charlotte playing in the pool at the vacation park. We saved the sunnier days for activities like these!

Well, that was it! Where did you spend your summer vacation? And if you're also getting back to work next week...good luck to you!

The Makeup Mix-Up | Summer Lippy!

To some summer will probably stand for bright colored eye makeup and lipsticks, but for me it's all about minimalizing. We don't have normal summer weather over here. It's either extremely cold and wet or incredibly hot. And there's nothing I hate more than having my makeup melt off my face. Well... there's probably something I hate more, but you understand what I mean. When it's hot and summery out I like to keep my makeup light and simple. Like this lipbalm from Superdrug for example! It has a little bit of color to it and it smells like strawberry! Love it!

I combined this lipbalm with some BB Dream Fresh tinted moisterizer by Maybelline, All Matt Plus Shine Control powder by Catrice Cosmetics, Alabaster Pink base and Cocao Shimmer contour shadow on my eyelids and the Rich Chocolate Brown liner shadow for my eyebrows (all from the Big Beautiful Eye Palette by Benefit), Lash Princess mascara by Essence and to finish it off some Bronze Block by Sleek. Here is the complete look:

(And yes, I am a horrible selfie taker)

This week I'm joining the Makeup Mix-Up link up again. Check out http://makingmrsm.com/ and http://www.mirandawritesblog.com/ for more looks from this week's prompt!

So, what is your go to makeup for the summer?

Life in July!

Hi there! It is time for another monthly picture bomb of what's been going on in my life. A little bit later than usual (and I'll admit...a little bit shorter), but we were on our summer vacation! So that is always a good excuse, right? I'll do a seperate post on our vacation later.

07/03/2015 - We started this month off with a full blown heat wave. So that meant some well needed refreshment in the shade!

07/09/2015 - We had a team building day at work. We spend the entire day boating the canals, shopping and eating! I can imagine worse workdays!

07/18/2015 - Visiting the aquarium and attending a dolphin show. Charlotte was so excited about it all and couldn't stop smiling and clapping. I got so teary eyed seeing her like this. I love it that I am able to experience things like this with her.

07/22/2015 - We had a playdate at the petting zoo! There was a big play area, including a groundwater pump. Charlotte just couldn't resist the muddy puddles surrounding it. I blame Peppa Pig for that! Haha!

07/24/2015 - Celebrating the first day of my summer vacation with this delicious cheese cake and a latte macchiato! This is seriously the best cheese cake ever!

Well, that was it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful summer! See you later!

Charlotte's 30 month update!

Today I am officially the mom of a 2,5 year old. WOW! I can't believe we'll be starting looking at preschools after the summer. I miss my little baby, but this is also a very fun age! We talk, we play and we laugh so much. She's a real commedian and she brings so much joy to our lives. I decided to to another update to look back on the last couple of months and see how she's doing. So here we go! 

Height & Weight

We haven't had a any check-ups lately, so I have no idea what her exact weight and height is at the moment. I am guess she's about 34 inches tall and about 24 - 25 pounds. I don't this she has grown so much over the last 6 months. She still wears size 4+ nappies, shoe size 7 and fits into 24 month clothing. 

Development

Her speech has developed so much over the last couple of months. She's always been a pretty good talker, but we do notice an increase in difficulty in the words she uses. She suprises us constantly with new words and sentences like 'Can you get me my musical instruments?' and 'I am such a commedian!' She also suprised us with the fact that she can now count beyond ten. We didn't even start practicing with that yet. The potty is also becoming more and more interesting. She uses the potty a couple of times a day now for peepies and poopies. But she isn't fully potty trained yet. We'll probably start taking it up a notch during the summer vacation. We'll see how it goes, there is no rush. She is also refining her motorskills and her visual perceptual skills. She loves puzzles and she's getting pretty good at making them. She now makes puzzles consisting of 12 - 16 pieces.

Likes & Dislikes

We experienced a heat wave recently. and that meant we had to take the pool out for some refreshment. Charlotte loved it! If it would have been up to her she would have spend the entire week in that pool. I let her pick out a toy for in the pool and she picked an inflatable crocodile. They have been BFF's since day one! It's been great! Besides that Charlotte has become completly obsessed with books. She takes them everywhere and we are not allowed to leave the house without taking atleast one of them with us. She even sleeps with 5 books in her bed at night. That can't be comfortable, but she refuses to go to sleep without them. She also loves singing, dancing and often takes out my yoga mat for the downward facing dog. She's also getting more and more into movies. Her favorite movie is Disney's Frozen. She dislikes being told no and she's awfully scared of mascots at amusement parks. Which should be fun considering the fact that we're going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, haha! 

 Well that was it for today. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!