Fare well, 2014!

Whilst 2014 is now officially history, I do want to stop and look back on this past year. I must admit 2014 leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings. I don't really want to go down the negative spiral, but I spent way too much time working in 2014. I know everybody is busy, but I have the feeling I spent 2014 working on a constant stream of school assignments, sometimes in a very inefficient way. I did almost no sewing this year, I spent way too little time on crafting projects, or on writing blogposts or spending time with friends. In general: I have the feeling I had almost no real carefree fun in 2014 and it bothers me.

I believe in hard work, but I also believe in play. As it is the balance work/play isn't really doing the balancing thing and I need a change of pace. I'm still figuring out how I can make this work, how I can survive what'll hopefully be my last months, weeks and days in college class rooms and how I can transition into a working life not feeling like dead tired crap all the time.

Ok, now onto the positive looking back part! 2014 wasn't all bad. It's easier to focus on all the bad, not-feeling-good, parts, but that's not how I want to remember this year!

2014 was the year I started blogging on "Never Kiss a Cactus"!

It was the year I enjoyed spring immensely! Savouring every little last petal.

Where we made plans to visit Russia and...

We actually went! I know I didn't post anything about this trip, but I will in 2015. It was a strange and exhilarating experience. Russia is in many ways different and in many ways alike.

Although not everything was as thrilling and most of it was tiring, some school assignments were lot's of fun

I also read a lot of great and awesome books!

I had some new, and sometimes strange, tasting experiences

I did some great finds on flea markets

And although creative learning experiences, like the ones on the photos, were scarce, I had a blast at each and every one of them!

So fare well 2014! You weren't the best year ever. I worked hard and I didn't feel great, but I learned the true value of "play", something I'll probably never forget again. So thank you & goodbye! How was your year? Do you also feel like 2014 wasn't your greatest year ever or did you have a wonderful year?

Last Week [14]

Whew, it's been a while since I last wrote a Last Week post. This one might be a little bit picture heavy, but I'll try to contain myself. First something else. These past months have been quite quiet on the blog. Most All of my time & creativity goes to school related things. I often just don't feel like blogging or don't feel like trying to brainstorm for somewhat creative content. Since I've rediscovered my love for reading and between reading and spending more time with the Boy, this blog is somewhat on the back burner. I do feel bad about this and I'm thinking about how I can change my content to fit my busy schedule. Maybe writing shorter posts will help? I have no idea really, if you guys have some tips, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Enough about me being a bad blogger, onto the pictures!

In november I followed a short Illustration course. I only went to three of the four lessons, because I had so much other things to do and I was dead tired by the end of November, but I had a blast! It was so much fun to be able to sketch so freely (you know, non-school assignment related). I haven't touched my own sketchbook since November 1st, so I'm really glad I did this course. I would love to finish the illustrations I started in this course and hopefully make some more in 2015.

A couple of weeks ago it was still 15 degrees Celsius and now it's freezing and snowing! I'm quite happy with this turn in the weather, I love winter cold and cosy snuggling and it's just not the same when it's practically hot outside.

We visited a printer with our class in the beginning of December. It was very interesting seeing all those machines in action. It also made it very clear to me that I don't want to end up working at a printer. Although I probably wouldn't mind for a couple of months. I think it would be rather enriching to know all the ins and the outs and the why's for when I'm designing and I need to know the limits of what's doable.

The past week I've been doing lots of shopping and chilling around the house. We still haven't got all our presents, luckily we still have a couple of days, because we exchange our presents on New Years Day. I also bought myself a little present from HAY (a pair of fancy scissors) and enjoyed a very warming shot of jenever. We got hazelnut and elderflower and they were both very tasty!

• Listening: I've started listening to Amy Poehler's Yes Please a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to which chapter I got. Oops.
• Watching: I've been watching Twin Peaks with the Boy (because we never finished watching it when we first started watching a couple of years ago). I like all the weirdness and tiny details. We've also watched A Christmass Carol (♥♥♥♥) and Die Hard (♥♥♥). We went to see the last part of the Hobbit (♥) and were sourly disappointed.
• Reading: Vicious by V.E. Schwab + The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson. I still haven't finished Blindness by José Saramago either. Oh, I'm also reading the latest & last edition of the wonderfully creative 101 Woonideeën magazine. The publishers decided some months ago the magazine wasn't profitable enough and this edition is the very last. Since it was my favourite magazine it's a very sad thing to see it disappear.
• Making: not much really, apart from the usual school assignments.
Purchasing: I've bought myself a cute pair of scissors, the last 101 Woonideeën en VTWonen and the latest Computer Arts edition. Yes, something magazine addiction. We also went to Ikea for some new book shelves and bought lot's of presents for everybody.
• Looking forward to: January 20th because it's the last day of the exams, which I'll probably celebrate by doing absolutely nothing (maybe hugging my sofa in my onesie and reading the day away). I'm also looking forward to January 24th, because it's my birthday! And that means presents. And I do love getting a bunch of presents. And cake!

So, what did you guys do these past weeks? What are you looking forward to?

A Small Wishlist [03]

We gaan er hier geen doekjes om winden: het is bijna Kerst! En misschien belangrijker: bijna mijn verjaardag. Een paar jaar terug kwam ik op het geweldig geniale idee dat verjaren het ideale excuus is om uzelf te bedelven in cadeautjes, allemaal schuldvrij gekocht. Ik geef mijzelf een budget (een mentale gift card in alle winkels) en dan laat ik mij gaan. Dit jaar heb ik (helaas) nogal een beperkt budget, sommige van mijn wishlist items gaan daar boven, maar een mens mag dromen, niet?

1. Snorrige deurmat - Mustard, €17,50
2. Zigzag Kussen - Fest Amsterdam, €19,50
3. Koperen geometrische kandelaars - Madam Stoltz, Klein: €8,50; Groot: €11
4. Tafellamp in munt - Nordal Studio, €89,95
5. Wereldbol - La Chaise Longue, €14,90
6. Diamanten Kaarsenhouders - House Doctor, €28,95
7. Dienblad - Casa Vivante, €24,95
8. Cactusvaasje - Serax, €17,95

1. The Hunger Games Foil Edition - Suzanne Collins, €28,30
2. Hand Job - Michael Perry, €20,70
3. Hogwarts Library Box Set - J.K. Rowling, €23,62
4. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, €14,95
5. Cake POP figure - Adventure Time, €13,26
6. Deadly Class - Rick Remender, Wesley Craig & Lee Loughridge, €8,37
7. Harry Potter Box Set Signature Edition - J.K. Rowling, €110,12

Valt het op dat ik de volgende maanden vooral binnenshuis wil doorbrengen? Een dekentje, wat kaarjes in een coole kandelaar en een goed boek op mijn schoot, dat lijkt mij prima! Wat willen jullie graag onder de Kerstboom vinden?

The Instagram Tag

I saw this tag on Elisse's blog (who also has a cool Instagram acount ;)) and I decided it would be fun to see what my answers would be. Instagram is one of those social media things I really enjoy, although I'm not very good at connecting with people. I love going trough my feed thought, it's one of the first things I do in the morning and one of the lasts things I do before (sometimes while) I fall asleep in the evening! I used Iconosquare for everything statistics and numbers on this page, which was very handy.

What is your instagram username and why?
My Instagram name is Plutomeisje, which is the same as my Twitter account and the name of my old website. It's Dutch for Pluto-girl, a name the Boy once gave me when I told him I was cold. You know, because the dwarf planet Pluto is also always cold. It somehow stuck.

How many photos do you post on average?
I used to post more frequently but because I've been busy with school the past months my average went down to two pics a week. There isn't going on much in my life at the moment and there are only so much photos of sketches and computer screens you can post before your follower count hits zero.

My first photo on Instagram and one of my most recent photos... I have a thing for plants, apparently

Instagram facts
I posted my first first photo on September 28th, 2012. Since that day I posted 596 photos. Only four of those are selfies. About 200 very cool people follow me and I follow a staggering number of 743 (!) super interesting IG-ers. My photos got 3,589 likes and 511 comments. Those numbers are pretty low, I think, and they make me realise I still suck at the social part of social media. I just tend to throw things online and never comment on other people's pics. According to Iconosquare 77 people started following me in the last 7 days and 13 people pushed the unforgivable "unfollow" button!

Most liked?
This summer I made some sort of drawn portrait that was quite different from everything else I do and apparently people liked it. :)

Your own personal favorite?
That's a hard question. I went through all my pics and I picked this photo from our trip to St. Petersburg last April. I have a lot of good memories about that trip and this photo is one of my favourites I took with my phone (my other photos still aren't printed or sorted through, shame on me!).

What apps do you use in combination with instagram?
I have the A Beautiful Mess app, Pixlr-o-matic and VSCO Cam apps, but I hardly use them. I post my photos immediatly after I make them, I don't spent much time deciding on filters...

What filter do you use the most?
I thought it was X-pro, which I use a lot 14% of the time but apparently I've used Valencia the most (15%). Also, on 15% on my photos I've used no filter at all (and in a couple of cases these are pics I edited with another app). I've never used 1977, Apollo, Gotham, Lomo-fi, Lily, Lord Kelvin, Poprocket and Mayfair.

Which hashtags do you use the most?
I mostly use #drawing, which doesn't really come as a surprise. :)

Which celebrities do you follow?
I follow a buch of YouTubers, such as Tyler Oakley, Zoella and Hank Green, I'm not very into celebrity following.

Which animals do you follow?
I follow quite some animals on IG. I love the pics of a Weimaraner cuddling with a Dachshund by @harlowandsage. They're such an odd pair. I also really like @ernest_hedgingway, a hedgehog that has a thing for books. On the feline side of Instagram I follow @amaguri207, @shimejiwasabi and @pitterpatterfurryfeet who occasionally play dress up. Oh and @BatsQLD, a bat rescue in Queensland, Australia, with tons of super cute bat pictures!

Which (big) companies do you follow?
I thought I didn't follow any big companies, but I follow IkeaBelgium, UrbanOutfitters, Anthropologie and NationalGreographic. I also follow some small companies like Shopelleaime, Titi + The German Kid and The Weird and Wonderful.

Do you have a lot of family on instagram?
Not really. The Boy isn't into social media and most of my family or friends don't use Instagram as active and contributing users. One of my nieces in on Instagram though. :)

Do you guys like Instagram? If you have an Instagram account and you want to blog about it, feel free to do so! Leave the link to your blogpost in the comments below, so I can read all about it. :) Also, if you have an IG-account I do not know about, leave your link down below, I love to find new IG-ers!

November Shoplog

Sooo, I did some shopping in November. I splurged a little on books and on bath products and I even went to H&M and bought a bunch of relatively cheap clothes. I'll skip the clothes, because they're all in the washing machine and not that interesting to be honest. I will show you the books (and the stories of how they came to my book case) and bath thingies though.

The first two books I ordered from AwesomeBooks, an online bookshop that sells second hand books. I'm not a really big fan of second hand book shopping, but because I heard a couple of positive things on BookTube, I wanted to give it a try. I bought Just My Type by Simon Garfield and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, both in hardcover, for €11. Not a bad deal, I thought, because AwesomeBooks said on their website both books were in used, but good condition. So I was a little bit disappointed when both books arrived in an extremely cheap plastic bag which didn't do much at protecting the books inside. They also both smelled funny (although the website promised they wouldn't). The Graveyard Book's dustcover was dirty and some pages were even dog-eared. Just My Type on the other hand is clearly unread and in good condition, so I'm not really sure what to think about this experience.... What do you think about second hand books?

When I discovered these beautiful editions of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, I fell in love. I ordered them from The Bookdepository, like I do most of my new books. The lovely cover illustrations are by fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. They also have this cool deckle edge. I already had Jane Eyre (but I hadn't read tit yet...), in a cheap mass paper back edition, so that book is looking for a new home. :)

Another book I bought partly because of the extremely awesome book cover (and inside) design and partly because I heard a lot of very positive things about the story is Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Look at that cover! Look at those black sides of the pages! I bought this one via AbeBooks. It was quite cheap (€8) for a new hardcover book and the package was much sturdier than the Awesome books package, but my book still got a bit hassled whilst shipping. Luckely you can't tell by the way the dust jacket looks.

Last week I went to the LUSH shop and did a little splurging. I go to LUSH about once a year, when the festive feeling of December starts to creep into my bones and I need glitter and milky coloured baths. I bought a Holly Golightly bubble bar (oh the glitters!), a Snow Angel bath melt and a new Aqua Mirablis body butter/scrub. I've been using my first scrub bar for a whole year and my very sensitive stupidly quick irritated skin loves it. I've haven't tried the other two, so I'm looking forward to my next bath! :)

Did you indulge in anything in November?