Sugarfree FOOD

Goooodevening readers,

Already winter here in Holland, freezing you know. And that means (for many people) more eatinggggg. But don’t worry, it’s a fact that you burn more calories in the winter than the summer, because you’re body needs to work harder to stay warm. Well of course you can also curl up against your boyfriend…

This blog will be about food.. Yes..

Since a month I’m trying to eat less sugars! If possible I only eat sugarfree products. They say, sugar is very bad for your body, all sugar we eat is not necessary for the body, because we make it our self. Americans say it’s poisson. Well I did some research before I started eating sugarfree.

It’s not thát bad for you but simply there are no important nutrients in it. So it’s not bad eating some sugar, and I know it’s difficult to resist some sugarbombs as crème, chocolate, muffins, icecreams. But if you eat much, you can gain a lot of weight and you risk diabetes, heart and vascular diseases. So warning : you can eat sugar, for energy it’s perfect for a while, but it’s also addictive. So be careful with that. You can also gain energy from other foods that are less fattening.

I know and noticed that if I eat sugar, my blood sugar levels rise for a while, and than it drops, so you’re body is asking for sugar again and that’s why eating sugar can be an addiction.

When you eat little or no sugar, your blood sugar is balanced, which means your need for sugar is less and secondly your blood sugar will remain constant.

Of course this is different for any person. But after some weeks I made sure that my need for sugar has diminished. With the result that you (can) lose some pounds.

Moreover I do not shun for natural sugars, which are in many fruits.

Here what I eat most :

-         Oatmeal (low in calories) with soya milk

-         Dried fruits like apricots

-         Unsalted peanuts, almonds and raisins

-         Breadsticks

-         88% cocoa chocolate

-         Rye bread

-         Vitalu crackers with toppings like: young cheese, apple sauce (no added sugar), smoked beef and peanut butter

-         Olives and greek feta cheese

-         Greek yogurt, low fat yogurt or quark

-         Lots of veggies and fruit

-         You can find many recipes for sugarfree snacks or cakes on the internet

-         For a drink : orange juice with no added sugar, green tea and lots of (lemon) water

If you want a challenge, or maybe you want to lose some weight. Well I would say : TRY IT ! It’s certainly not bad eating no sugar.

Be aware : you might have an headache for a week… Withdrawal symptons.

Many KiSsEs

Kirsten 

THE LIFE

Hello beautiful readers,

How many Fringe bikini’s did you see this summer?! If you don’t include the Facebook advertisings haha.

I hope you all have/had a wonderful vacation and got a beautiful tan.

Well I had! Now I’m already home for more than two weeks.

This post will be about (little) things that makes you happy:

Flowers, smiling people, start saying yes, spontaneous actions, the sun, the shimmering in the water

I will tell something about my vacation as well, because I can’t let it.

First I really need to share these beautiful pics I found. 

Right above is a garden in the Japanese city Kitakyushu. Right beneath are cherry blossoms along Meguro River, Nakameguro, Tokyo. Mother nature is beautiful <3

I planned a surf holiday in Zarautz. It’s half an hour from San Sebastian, which is the surf capital of Spain. After a 17 hour bus ride with stinky Belgium guys behind us we arrived at the Surfblend camp. HOT the weather was!

Three nights out, visiting San Sebastian and Bilbao, having a nice bicyle ride, three days surf lessons and lots of walking and great food during the week. Walking on slippers as well, ouchh from the beginning.

You can really have a good night out in Zarautz, 0,5l cocktails for 5 euro and a beer for 1 euro! Also the lights on the boulevard are beautiful by night.

Bilbao wasn’t that special, it’s the capital of Basque country, but it was National First Vacation Day or someting so all shops were closed and there isn’t that much history about the city we found. Ofcourse you need to eat some tapas and chocolate churros in Spain as well, really delicious!

Such a great experience. It was my first time on a surfplank, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. First time standing on it, such a great feeling J

Oh and a tip : do not smear yourself with sun oil before..  Only if you need more challenge.

The sun makes us feel so happy and what I can really enjoy is the shimmering in the sea. Can look at it for hours. After the shimmering there was another little village called Getaria, we went there by bike. You can rent bicycles in Zarautz for 12 euros for 4 hours. Getaria is a really nice and small village. What we noticed first was the smell of fish. Fish was freshly grilled outside the restaurant.

Well I came home on 28th of June, Sunday.

Yeah and now a good story. Monday I texted a good friend to ask if he still wanted to go on cycling holiday with me. I didn’t really mind that I was exhausted, but I really was. He still wanted to! Saying YES on more questions can be something which will change your life. Watch the movie Yes Man for more information. So mondayevening we booked our boottickets and hotel near Londen in a place called Ilford.

Well I’ve been on cycling holiday before from Rotterdam to Paris to London back to Rotterdam again. But this one was anything but prepared haha. Tuesday evening we went on our bikes through storm and heavy rain to Hook of Holland, 10 minutes left to check in. Yes we stressed out on our way.

But we made it and that is all that counts.

People tell me I’m insane, but believe me everyone can do this. Just don’t think and do! If you go for it and through everything you make it, well that feeling is just addicting. Wednesday we went from Harwich to London. 6 and an half hour on a bike, google maps said… But with the wind in front, biking through (little) villages as Colchester, Braintree and Chelmsford we were on our bikes for 12 hours! 135 km in total. The most kilometres I ever made on one day! Insane I do agree. I was thinking: why the hell am I doing this!? The last 15 kilometres every minute. My Achilles tendons hurt really bad and I was changing my ass’position every 5 minutes to feel a bit comfortable, which didn’t help at all ofcourse. Sometimes we needed to ask the right direction because we didn’t had a map or something, and a funny fact is that (English) people constantly tell you that it’s a long long way from where we were at that moment, but they are very friendly and helpful.

My body was really broken, after that week Spain and I had a cold as well. But I kept telling myself: if your body tells you to stop, your mind is only half way left. You can make it as far as you want. However it was hard. But when you’re about to quit, remember why you started. And pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit.

But we survived and after having a not so nice dinner we noticed we only could have a cold shower, brrrrr. Little note: I went to sleep with the song: you gonna keep your head up!!!!

Ilford is a overdue city, not very special.

Thursday, first LONDON DAYYYY! Seen so much and walked our leggs off:

London eye, Tower of London, Tower bridge, Big Ben, House of Parliaments, Oxford street, Leicester square, Trafalgar square, Piccadilly circus, Buckingham palace, Hamleys, The shard, City hall, Victoria Station, Knightsbridge, Harrods (big big department store where I bought some bonbons and tea for 10 pounds, where we touched new fake snow, where I saw the most beautiful dresses from top designers and where I hold an incredible realistic baby born) and Westminster Abbey. So just in case you wanna visit London, these are must-sees haha.

Friday, last day LONDON! Not as hot as the day before. Little children playing in the water at the courtyard of the Victoria and Albert museum, really made me smile. Also the squirrels in High Park who ate walnuts out of my hand were cute. This day we planned to see the rest: Saint Pauls cathedral, Milennium bridge, London Bridge Experience where I got hurt by a chainsaw. LBE is number one’s scariest attraction in London, well it was! Mennnnn.. Borough Market, The Monument, Southwark cathedral, Kings Cross, Kensington Gardens are must-sees too and at the Leadenhall market you can have a great dinner a friend of mine told me and you can!

After cramming our stuff into our panniers again we made up for our trip back to Harwich on Saturday. Well we did this in 6 hours, 3 hours too early to check in. Better too early than too late right. Wind in the back helped a lot and we drove on the left side of the A12 highway… This highway is one straight line from Harwich to London. Scary it was sometimes! Especially honking drivers.

Lovely hot shower on the Stenaline boat and it has tasty muffins as well. Yeahhh my addiction for muffins, ice creams, mcflurrys, stroopwafels and tea got fulfilled this summer.

I also went to Loveland with my boyfriend and great people. On techno partys as these I really feel the love. When you smile to someone, he/she will smile back. Happiness inside you’ll feel J

I hope we get the opportunity to enjoy the sun once again on the beach ! Ofcourse everyone wants to be called ‘tanned’ at school, work and university when normal life gets started again.

Lots of love ,

XOXOX Kirsten 

Amsterdam Fashionweek July 2013 is over

Hellooooo,

That’s it, Amsterdam fashionweek July 2013 is over. I hope all the fashionlovers enjoyed the beautiful creations livestream or in real. I’m already looking forward for AFW January 2014!

I had the beautiful luck that I could be at the final day frontstage and backstage thanks to a photographer/blogger/fashionjournalist/modelscout . This day was Tuesday the 16th of July, I’ve watched all the shows and collections: ByDanie, Allan Vos, Cold Method, Winde Rienstra and Lichting 2013.

ByDanie was really a fun show! The beautiful and sexy Sylvia Geersen was opening the show and the walk was kind of Victoria Secret’s style: fun, kisses, loud live music.. I LOVED it!

Danie Bles (the owner of this label ByDanie) made a FW ’13 collection and a Party ’13 colecction. Maybelline New York, who invited Danie to work with, made the eyes look very big, because ‘Big Eyes it is!’ for the next season.

What I really liked about her collection were the shimmering aspects with the fur coats.

Left up/leftmid: Allan Vos Midup: ByDanie Rightup: interview Down: backstage ByDanie en Lichting 2013

Then Allan Vos was having his collection showed at the Transformatorhouse. I was really excited for this one, because I had seen most of his outfits in Michelangelo Winklaars and Allan Vos’ their atelier in The Hague. But on really nice male models it looked even better.

Backstage there was a really nice atmosphere, it seemed like there was no stress at all. And as Allan said: ‘Well, all the outfits are ready so only some adjustments has to be made and then it’s showtime!’

While I was backstage my friend/designer Michelangelo Winklaar got me in one of his sexy Mangel Ichelo dresses, in which I felt very fashionable :) MW was helping his man Allan with the choreography and cue for the models. The show was amazing: the beautiful pants with pleats were really great and outstanding to me.

The third show was the Cold Method show, a really busy one because of all the audience. Very casual/wearable, I loved the blocked aspects. Especially the blue suit!

 Midup: Winde Rienstra Leftup/Rightup: Lichting 2013 Leftdown: Cold Method and just loved this woman in color <3

Then the show from Winde Rienstra. Many people were looking forward to this one. Winde is known as an artist with great use of special fabrics and a designer with an artistic vision. Before the show there were already some rumours about the shoes.

I was really holding my breath when the first model came up and I saw the shoes. How bad I felt for them. They were accompanied by male hosts of AFW which wasn’t the plan in the beginning  people told me. Well the collection was beautiful, some artistic pieces of art and some beautiful flattering dresses with flower prints, wearable as well.

The last show of this fashionweek was one which is held every year and as always everyone was looking forward for the new generation of designers from fashion schools. Lichting 2013 sponsored by G-star Raw is a competition where the two best graduated designers from different schools as WDKA, KABK, AMFI, HKU, artEZ, Gerrit Rietveld were showing four pieces of their collection. In the end 150 fashion specialists are voting for their favorite and then there is a winner. Henriëtte Tilanus won this edition, a student from artEZ and she was my favorite as well. I also really loved the collection of Loekie Mulder which I had seen before when I walked for the KABK as well. Well done ex-students!

I recommend you to the official site of Amsterdam Fashionweek. There you can find an great overview of all shows http://www.amsterdamfashionweek.com/en/shows

Enjoy the sun beauties!

Next post will probably be about music / festivals! Stay tuned and enjoy holiday!

Love XOX Kirsten

July is coming

Hello beautifuls!

I hope you enjoyed the first warm days. Well I did! Next to studying for my last exams 5vwo I have been shooting, drinking tea, dancing on 909 festival, having a good and healthy meal. And since some time I’m drinking coffee (never thought I would really like it), well it all happened at a fashionshow, you always need to wait a whole day from 8.30 in the morning to 4.00 in the afternoon for the first show, that’s a modellife. So to stay awake, it’s a good helper.

Look at the picture in white coat carefully, I needed to laugh! 

July is comingggg ! Well, that means : a lot of fashion. Most of the fashion/artschools as KABK in The Hague, WDKA in Rotterdam, Artez in Arnhem, AMFI in Amsterdam and more have already had a big fashionshow where their students show on what they have been working this year. That means: you work a whole year on a collection and you show it in max 5 minutes, well some people would say you’re a stupid cow, all the work for showing such a short time, but it’s a period of so many emotions and a big progress you go through!

It was my first time for the WDKA! I walked for Sara Eijkelboom, she made a colorful and on Japanese inspired graduation collection. Such a sweet and talented girl.

I was walking for Anna Mala at the KABK for the second time. This time the shoes did fit great! Last year Anna made them herself, but it was almost impossible to walk on them.

But it’s been already half a year ago : Amsterdam Fashionweek. So the 6th of July, it’s fashiontime again. I can’t wait! The 12th of July SIS by Spijkers & Spijkers is opening. You can see the fashionshows livestream again I guess, but this year you can buy tickets too I saw on Twitter. In july I was invited to take a look at the shows from: Claes Iversen, Gsus and Erwin Oudshoorn. Really amazing! To watch the schedule go to: http://www.amsterdamfashionweek.com/en

Start now!

Hi Guys,

Did you enjoy the rainy weeks in the Netherlands!? I don’t think you did, but at least I enjoyed the beautiful air and the birds twittering around. 

This blog is about Chris Powell, sports, perseverance and goals. 

Running in the rain isn’t really a fun thing to do, but I would if I could get a hot shower afterwards. And a friend told me that standing in the shower with a cup filled with hot chocolate is really delicious/amazing. I didn’t try yet, because I still have a knee injury, now for four weeks, but I’m definitely gonna try some time. I really want to get back on my workout scheme soon. I was doing Insanity Workout for two weeks, but I’m gonna start all over again with amazing Shaun T, loving his workouts!

Anyways I want to talk about Chris Powell, such an inspiring person I think. If you have seen Obese USA you will definitely know him. The first thing I mentioned was his smile, he is so happy by seeing people change their lifes. He smiles constantly, which is a sign of optimism and really a boost for the participants I think. Such a beautiful quality. He is not only helping them loose weight, but also changing their manner of living and helping them to know who they really are and wanna be. He gets/lets you face the facts.

Some of his quotes/tips @ABCnews:

“I know you’ve heard this before but take one thing that you are willing to change in your life, whether it’s moving for five minutes or drinking water, take one promise that you can fulfill, and keep that promise to yourself over and over and over. And then take on another small change,”

“A squat jack is a great total body movement, and easy to combine with other exercises.”  

“Jumping rope is back. It was a thing a few decades ago and now it’s back, which is great. It’s endurance, stamina, and it’s a total body exercise. It’s not just the legs, but it’s balance and the shoulders,”

“Choose More, Lose More for Life” is published by Hyperion.

"I believe that everyone has the right to live a happy and healthy life."

Not only Chris is working out, but his whole family is fanatic. He calls his wife (Heidi Powell also a fitness trainer) the bulldog, because she is even more driven. 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEC7CC4324B6D52E4 For some fun videos.

If you want and believe, you will. Starting tomorrow is reaching your goal a day later than planned. So start now ;D

Well I'm gonna enjoy the sun these days! 

LOVE

Living the free life

Hi guys,

It’s been a while since my last post, sorry for that, but here I am again.

This post will be about photographing, limits, cycling and experiences. I did so many cool things which I want to share with you. I really hope it’s inspiring.

13-04 was the first day in my life that I went shooting as photographer with a pretty girl I know from my violin lessons a long time ago. She has great potential I think!

I never really worked as photographer, but I went with my brothers camera Canon 1000D and I was surprised by its functions ! It was a great day and Julië did a great job as well. I was so excited that I immediately did some editing on my favorites. I hope you like them too! My photographing and editing skills aren’t that good, but I think it worked out quite well though. Tips and tricks are welcome! :)

14-04 was such a wonderful day. I planned to cycle to Scheveningen The Hague once in a while, so I thought this was a perfect day to try. I’ve been on my bike for about 50 km! That's been a long time ago that I've come so far on my bike, I think it was my bicyle vacation 2010 to Paris and London. When I got there, I felt really blessed. Like I could handle the whole world, which is insane ofcourse haha. It felt so good to reach something you didn’t think you could do that easy. I didn’t spend any euro or something this day, so that means you don’t need to spend money if you want to get happy. It was a lovely day at the beach! People didn’t understand why I would go all on my own, but it was great. Just a moment/day for yourself, it’s all you need once in a while.

Here a school assignment Pip and I wrote some weeks ago, theme: ‘Happiness is a state of mind’

Happiness is not a station you arrive at,  but a manner of travelling. What we think that makes people happy is setting goals and pursue them. This way you can be happy with who you are and only then you can appreciate others the way they are. For example you’re not that sporty type and your friend asks you to walk the marathon with him. You can surprise yourself and set this goal for yourself. You’re trying something new, stepping out of your comfort zone and you’re trying to reach this goal. You need to work hard for it, and when you finally reach your goal it will give you a happy feeling. Stepping out of your comfort zone will help you to achieve happiness. Because we think that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Other things that can make you happy are the little things in life and most of the time you don’t need to pay for it. This way of achieving happiness is inside your comfort zone you can watch the sunrise or have a good time with family and friends. You can also listen to music, this can help you to make up your mind and live in the moment, which makes you feel happy and satisfied. It isn’t hard to get happy, you just have to set goals, live in the moment and spend time with the people you love. And remember: it’s not about having what you want, but about appreciating what you have. So live life to the fullest. YOLO!

Ofcourse when you’re unhappy, getting happy is not that easy.. But it is the same thing: set goals and try to pursue them, and learn from everything you do.

21-04 was great as well. A really windy day, but much sun :) This time I’ve been on the road to Zevenhuizen, that was 15 km or some and back the same. I know how it feels like to medidate and it’s great. But going on my bike is some kind of meditation to me as well, because the air, the power you need and the movements… It’s me and my mind. One half is paying attention on the road and stuff around me and the other half is at the same time, looking for answers, analyzing so many stuff, it’s like day dreaming. Because I did only 30 km I needed some challenge. So I did a mountainbike outdoor valley parcours on my skinny travel (not mountain) bike and it felt so good to stand on the top of Uitkijkpunt Lührs. Just on time for a great healthy meal when I arrived home.

 27-04/28-04 the start of the May holiday. Two weeks off from school, that’s what I needed. Also being a bit nervous for my friends who all need to study hard for their final exams.

Had a great day shopping with one of my most creative and beautiful friends/models Marli. Such a nice day, and we became member of BNN to safe the Dutch broadcasting. Spend my money on: shoes, shirts, bikinitop, sporttop, accessoires, yehh maybe too much. We <3 Primark. In the evening it was ladies night out, Marli and I went to Rotterdam. And we became VIP’s at Café Fout & Saint Tropez.
We met awesome people and did some unexpected good deeds in the early morning (8.00 A.M.). We saved a sheep, found a big big rat and found an iPod Shuffle as well.. still looking for the owner! S.M. de Haan please come and get your ipod back. So much fun. Calling the animal ambulance was not a success.. calling the police was something like: speak out the name of your location clearly. Berkel en Rodenrijs. To be sure, say it again. Berkel en Rodenrijs. Well you’re in Bruinisse.. WHAT?! So it was up to us.. After a while we got the sheep , lifted it and got it over the fence. Reunited with his little ones… CUTE! Rescuers ! :)

Short summary about this May break :

I had a fitting at the KABK for Anna Mala, Rolf Snoeren from the designer duo Viktor&Rolf was there in The Hague to criticize the collections of the students. The show will be on the 15th of June, if you want tickets, let me know! Now I was there in The Hague I met up with my crazy friend designer Michelangelo Winklaar again, we had a great great meal together and so much fun with wigs and clothes in the shops, prefun for Queensday as well. What do you guys think, me getting a dark bob? Haha.

 

30th of April, the first Queensday which I spended in Amsterdam, not that busy as I imagined but it was such a great day when the sun came through and Loveland is an amazing event. I will never forget this day!

I went to Warm bodies the movie with my dad and brother, definitely recommended!

Enjoyed the sun in dresses which I’ve really missed (hippie >>>)

Had a fitting for a wedding catwalk show.

I had a fun night with most of my friends, good to see them again, only a pity for me and my healthy workout life that I fell from my bike before the night started :( I did Insanity workout for already 14 days, but I’m still having a knee injury, so I need rest, well I don’t really know that word.. But be positive: look at the things you CAN do and not at the things you CAN’T.

On Liberation day I had a quality day with my lovely brother, we went to The Hague to watch rock/punk bands on Malieveld and some fun music on main stage. In the evening we travelled along to Zoetermeer where Postmen, Di-rect and the Golden Earring gave a great performance.

Last Tuesday I was in Hazerswoude with my lovely girls and we did farmer golf. Which was so good for a laugh hahahaha. In between the cows, sheep and horses. I was a bit in an hurry afterwards for a casting at the WDKA and then I needed to be in Zoetermeer again for the wedding show with dresses from Yentlsbruidsboetiek. I don’t think many women (or men) sat in a wedding dress in the cinema, well I did! It was Ladies Movie Night in Utopolis. 

Last Wednesday I went to the Euromast in Rotterdam for the second time, but this time all the way up with my grandma, she was really excited because she had never been on the Euromast before. I feel really blessed to have both of my grandparents. They are really like second parents to me.  

To come this holiday:

Last bit of homework… That stuff need to be done too. Day Delft, Meerbeatz festival Hoofddorp and this monday back to school again.

Remember you can’t appreciate the ups without surrendering to the downs. Life is not perfect but enjoy the beautiful moments in life!

Eat well and behold the air >>>

Sending you L-O-V-E xox

Kirsten

Next post won’t be this personally ;)

Masculinity and feminity

Hi guys!

April is the month of the suit. And it shows off. You see many editorials with women in suits.

It’s quite a hype this year. As well in magazines as on fashion partys as well on the catwalk. Coco Chanel and Giorgio Armani both started a collection women suits. Armani’s winter collection is therefore called : Garçonne. Most of all black and white collor designs. Masculine creations such as harlequin jackets, loose trousers, Pierrot collards and even braces were worn by female models! The feminine details are heads, ruffles, bracelets and clutches. The shoes were quite simple and flat.

Below some shots of Lina Zhang. She suits up in this cool and crisp editorial showcasing ‘Modern Tailoring’ for Vogue China. Shot by Lincoln Pilcher and fashion Editor: Morgan Pilcher .

 

What do you think? Cool and different style, you can make it look feminine with beautiful hair and makeup and elegant high heels. Or do you say no, because it’s doesn’t add anything to our status as woman.

I think it’s okay to wear a suit, but I prefer dresses. When I wear something manly I try to get it back in balance with something really feminine. Because I can’t feel a girl without anything feminine, I think it’s just a state of mind.

 

 

Next to masculinity there is feminity. And I found these greaaaat campaign pictures on Facebook, and I’m really sorry that I need to tell you that I didn’t find out what’s the designer of the dresses or any other information than that the photo’s were shot in Africa and it’s the A/W Africa 2013 collection. But when I find out you’ll definately hear.

What a little light can do, AMAZING! I was impressed by the white color lightening up in the sun. The dresses look so much more special. Nature and design clothes come together in simpelness and beauty. Harmony is the word that popped up immediately. I really love the silhouets and fabrics <3

See you around guys,

LOVE xox

Kirsten