Love. Want. Need.
I tried these and they looked great. I just needed one size smaller, which someone had stolen or kidnapped (or perhaps bought) before I came in. And I don’t really have the money, even though they’re really not expensive. But I’ll wait until I do, and then I’ll find them in my size and buy, buy, buy!
Waiting is hard. I hate waiting.
Watch: HELLCATS
This is a tv series about a girl joining the cheerleaders to get a scholarship, even though she’s really not the typical cheerleader. At first I thought, this is going to be cheesy and boring, but it was quite fun! If you’re lucky enough to live in the US of A you can just watch it on tv. If you’re not that lucky, you have a few options:
- wait until it’s on tv in your country
- find some place to watch the episodes online
- download the episodes
- wait for the dvd box and order it.
If you’re not convinced yet: watch the promo!
Live healthy. Eat healthy. They can’t say it enough. Live healthy and you’ll live longer, happier, better. Eat fruit and vegetables every day, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much alcohol, be good.
But do they really want us to be healthy?
Today I was watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Here in the Netherlands, these episodes are sponsored by KitKat. There’s an advertisement before and after every commercial break, which spreads one single message: eat this and you’ll feel great. It’s not just that. There’s more. If you go to the website, you can win a dvd box and a supply of KitKat Senses big enough to get you through a whole night of Grey’s Anatomy. So, what message are they spreading? Eat this not very healthy chocolate bar. You’re a winner.
Advertising campaigns for cigarettes are forbidden and on every pack there’s a warning saying ‘smoke me and you’ll die’. Not literally, but the message is clear. Still a lot of people keep on smoking. The governments sometimes tend to respond to this by increasing taxes on cigarettes.
What if everyone stopped smoking? This would probably be great for common health, people being in better condition. And nobody would buy cigarettes, decreasing tax income by thousands and thousands of euros or whatever the country’s currency is. Of course, a lot of money going into health care for smokers would be saved, but would this be as much as the taxes which would no longer be coming in?
A friend of mine visited her family in Canada this summer. She told me that every day, they have some sort of health bulletin on the evening news: tips and tricks to live healthier. Then she crossed the border to the States, where a small portion of anything edible is about the size of an extra large portion here in the Netherlands. There’s kids eating junk food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When they make anything at home, so much oil or butter is used that it comes closer to frying than cooking or baking. But nobody does anything about the huge portions of food, which are so much more than any child (or adult) needs. And when we eat more than we need, every single day, we gain weight.
Sometimes companies try to convince us they want us to live healthy and they want to help. McDonald’s has these salads, which are actually quite a good try. But here comes Burger King to ruin all the fun. I visited the Dutch website today, trying to find out if they sell anything that comes close to being healthy. The first thing I see is this: “Would you like an extra portion? Yes? No problem. Because ‘yes’ is the answer to all your wishes.” Well, that’s a nice start for some extra fat on my bottom. Luckily, there’s also good news. They sell salads. The only problem is (and this doesn’t only occur at Burger King): the salads are really expensive compared to a double cheeseburger king deal (double cheeseburger, French fries and a drink for €2,95) or the so-called ‘euroknallers’ (a hamburger, or 6 chicken nuggets for €1). So, what would most people do, buy the cheap and unhealthy burger or get a salad? You do the math.
On the other hand, there’s also positive initiatives. I remember an announcement at my highschool: all the healthy food would become cheaper and the prices of less healthy food would be increased. And the really unhealthy, fatty stuff would only be sold one day a week. We could get a sandwich with ham, cheese, cucumber and egg (no sauce or anything) for just one euro and everyone loved it. It became the favorite canteen food for most of us. Apples were only 25 cents while a Mars or Twix bar cost more than double. Money being very important, this actually encouraged a lot of people (or at least the girls, who tend to be more health-conscious anyway) to eat more healthy.
Or take a look at Jamie Oliver, who tried to healthify the lunch menus at many schools. It didn’t always work out perfectly, but it was always better than what was served before.
Live healthy. It’s something we can’t do alone. We need help from governments and companies. Putting a healthy life before bigger profits requires a change of attitude. But if we start with ourselves, there is a way. I’ll do my part, will you do yours? In the end, it’s up to you.
Outfit of the day: Finally, my new dress!
This is what I wore last Friday for our concert at the Concert Hall in Tilburg. The dress is great. I loved it the minute I put it on! And I don’t know if the dress has anything to do with it, but I had a great night and the concert was just amazing.
Dress: ZARA, €39,90
Tights: Action, €2,79 for 3 pairs (cheapass stuff, you’ll want to wear them only once, but I didn’t have time to go anywhere else for better ones)
Shoes: Primark, €18 if I remember correctly
Unfortunately no accessories, that just doesn’t work when you’re playing the violin…
I’m really excited. Tomorrow evening (technically it’s already Friday… it’s 0.31 a.m., but I say it’s Friday when I wake up on Friday, not earlier than that) we have this concert right here in Tilburg at the concert hall. Today we met Corky Siegel, he came all the way from the States to play with us, which is pretty amazing. He had never been to the Netherlands, well, there’s a first time for everything, right? He’s amazing. He plays harmonica and piano and he’s really good at both. Plus, he’s a nice guy.
There was this contest for orchestra members: the one who sells the most tickets, gets a free dinner for two. And it looks like I could win, which would be awesome. I worked for it! Sold 17 tickets by bothering all my friends and family. Only a small fraction of them actually wanted to come, but never mind, 17 people are coming to see my first concert as a member of Tilburgs Festival Orkest and though it’s a bit scary (my violin teacher is coming as well so I want to get things right), I think it’s pretty cool they’re all coming to see me. And afterwards they all want to see my room here in Tilburg so I spend my free time cleaning this week…
Well, it’s already late, so I’m going to take a shower, shave my legs (yes, that’s necessary.) and go to bed. Goodnight everyone!
(more info: http://www.tilburgsfestivalorkest.nl - only in Dutch, sorry!)
This looks delicious. I want to reach out and eat it right from my computer screen. Unfortunately it wouldn’t taste like white chocolate at all if I did, so I’ll have to wait until I have the time to make it. And I will make it. Yum.White Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake
Follow the link for recipe.
Thanks to Sprinkle Bakes
Last Thursday, my boyfriend and I went to Amsterdam. We did some shopping (I bought a really nice black dress for my concert this Friday, and a cookbook, while he found some jeans and a new watch) and then we saw this great belt at River Island. It’s a bit nerdy since it has the periodic table of elements on it, but wouldn’t it be a great gift for anyone interested in science? It sure made my day. I took a few pics:
belt, River Island (men’s department), Amsterdam
Price: €22,95 if I remember correctly
I had to use the flash to get all the details, but the color is actually more like the one on the second photo.
Last Friday I went shopping with my mum and while I was flipping through all the clothes at Zara, I bumped into this beautiful fake fur bag. I absolutely love it and I hate that I don’t have the money to buy it. It’s almost the end of the month and well, as some of you might now, this means that it’s almost the end of my money. Being a student is hard sometimes. I’ll keep this one in mind though.
Here’s some pics:
price: €49,95
(image source: http://www.zara.com)
Hi! I’m Lindsay, welcome to La Myrtille!
Here you’ll find whatever I bump into in my life. Pics, recipes, a bit of talking, anything really.
I hope you enjoy it!
