I oatmeal date nut bars

There. Proof that I watch to many episodes of 'My Drunk Kitchen'. That Hanna Hart and her word puns. ♥

But! On to the recipe here.
I'm absolutely loving these beauties ánd they help me get through the day whilst nourishing my sweet tooth without any refined sugar!

I'm on a no sugar/lifestyle challenge from September 1st until December 24th so I have to be creative when it comes to snacking. And since bars were on my 'to bake/make/cook/create' list, I just went for an adaption of the recipe of this fellow blogger: Yellow Lemon Tree.

It turned out like this:

Jum indeed.

Ingredients

• 150 gr oatmeal 
• 150 gr almonds
• 200 gr medjoul dates
• 4 tbsp peanutbutter (or any other nut butter)
• 4 tbsp date/agave/coconutnectarsyrup
• pinch seasalt
• tsp cinnamon

Directions

The original recipe tells you to roast the oatmeal and almonds, which is awesome. But remember to check on them in time... mine had a lovely roasted taste. Almost burned. Almost. 

- If you do decide to roast the oatmeal & almond, preheat the oven to 175°C and let them roast for 10 minutes. 

- Add the dates to your food processor, add some water to get a good paste and pulse those bad boys! 

- Get a small sauce pan and add the nut butter and syrup. Heat over low heat until it's all combined. 

- Throw everything in a big bowl and again, mix until combined. 

- Spread the mixture on a baking sheet with something underneath it for support - I used an oven plate. Place in refrigerator for about an hour. 

- Remove from fridge and cut to desired shape! 

et voila, muesli bars!

My fellow foodians, I wish you a happy weekend and a productive week at work. I'm off to bed.
Love,
Anouk

Oven roasted pumpkin-carrot soup recipe!

When the summer and the weather decide to go for a 'fuck you', I'm not even going to try to make something summer inspired. Nope, I went straight for my winter favorite! Nothing says warm and fuzzy like a steaming cup of thick, sweet & spicy soup :D

And my all time favorite is my own adapted version of an oven roasted pumpkin soup. I add some carrots for the color and flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized pumpkin 
• 3 large carrots
• 1 medium sized sweet onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1,5 liters of vegetable broth
• Cumin
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Creme fraiche
• Blender
• Chef's knife

Directions 

Preheat your oven to 200°C or 395°F

If you happen to have any frustrations about anything at all, rejoice! You're going to slay a pumpkin. There is a way to soften up your pumpkin so you can slice through it like a warm knife cuts through butter and that is to cook it first. But with that you lose the opportunity to make it all sweet and roasted and since that is what makes this my favorite I don't mind the elbow grease.

So! 

What you do is you cut it in little pieces and remove the skin. Come to think of it, the skin holds a ton of nutrients.. I might leave it on next time. Anyways, after you've done this, cut your carrots and pumpkin in to equally sized chunks. Drizzle some olive oil over the chunks and season with salt and pepper. 

Into the oven they go for about 25 minutes. 

In the mean time, chop your onion, ginger and garlic into little pieces. Now wait for your oven to scream for your attention.

Flip the heavenly smelling orange bits in the oven and bake them for another 10 minutes.

Now on to the broth! This is easy, I use a powder or cubes. You can make your own, I will put up a recipe. But for now, we use 2 broth cubes.
I always make it with some boiled water, about 1,5 liters. 

Put some oil in your pan and fry the onion and garlic for a minute or two. Then add the ginger and cumin and bake for an additional minute or two. I always put a little broth with the onions when they're done so they won't burn.

Now get the pumpkin and carrots out of the oven and put them in the pan. Add the rest of the broth until everything is under water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Turn off the heat and blend everything to a smooth substance. 

Add creme fraiche to taste and blend again.

Enjoy!

P.s. If you're alone like me, freeze a few batches so you'll have fresh soup for whenever you feel like it! :D

Fuck it - I'm a food blog.

I can't deny it any longer. I love talking about life, but in all honesty, I love talking about food more.

And I've been discussing the matter of me starting a food blog with my sister on this blog for quite a while now, and since we've finally started.. I thought I'd share what we've been doing so far!

Which means; here, have a recipe

The original can be found on kookmutsen.com

BANANCAKES ♥

Ingredients for 2

• 2 bananas
• 4 eggs
• Cinnamon to taste
• Extra fruit (berries ♥) for topping
• Oil to bake the bastards in! 

Note: For optimal health results, try baking with extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or a canola oil because these oils can be heated without any trouble! Apart from burning your food, but that's you, not the oil. 

Directions

Toss all in bowl and mix.
That's what it comes down to basically, but I'll try to explain it more delicately, like a decent food blogger!

Mash the bananas in a bowl and add the cinnamon. Break the eggs in another bowl and whisk for about 2 minutes. I don't know this for sure, but I feel as though this helps my pancakes to become fluffier? Don't know, not necessary step but I like whisking.

Then combine your two mixtures and heat up a pan! 

Last step is to bake your delicious bastards.

As seen on the picture above, ours became a scrambled egg-mess due to sticky non-sticking pans. But in all honesty, it's the taste that counts, not it's looks.
How very deep, a bit of the old me back in describing my recipe!

I gave you something to bake, now I'm giving you something to read!
I've started to daily vlog! Why, because I'm doing a lifestyle challenge from September first until the day before Christmas!

Why a lifestyle challenge? Because I want to put all the negativity behind me and start to become a productive, happy young adult who will make something of her life rather then watching it go by as I tune in on what happens next on Netflix. 

I'm very excited about all of this, mostly because I'm already doing it :D
Anyone can change - you just really badly have to want to and do something about it. 

That's all for now.

Love,
Anouk

Harry Potter and the Bottle of Wine

Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

That was the actual reason behind this trip to London, to see the world of Mr. Potter come to life before my very eyes. Or actually the world of J.K. Rowling, whom we have to thank for creating the Boy Who Lived.

For me it all started when I was 9 years old. My mother used to read to me before bed and one day we chose Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Being a fan of all things magical I fell in love instantly. Now I do not remember in what order I worked my way through the books and films other than first the book, then the film - but does it really matter?

The world was there, created through both my own mind and that of others.

I demanded my sister to give my nephew the same experience as us, growing up with these characters. Now, it probably won't take him 10 years and he might not even like the series (impossible with parents like his, but still) but everyone should visit this set regardless of their affection towards the series. What those people created in a decade is incredible!

We got to the studios by bus, leaving at Victoria Station. I booked us a ticket online in advance, it's probably the easiest thing to do.
After collecting our digital guides it was time to start the tour! First up a shout out to all the employees, they really make an effort to make your visit worth the while. Being friendly, informative and fun :) Thank you!
And to those at the photo/video moment, I left the queue after watching you 'guide' the visitors through their broom ride. I don't care that you've done it a million times before, if you get paid to do something put some freaking effort into it, you bored fuck. Other than those (one in particular) people were nice. Especially the girl at the end who was collecting our digital guides, we got to talking a bit about the entire tour and how amazingly everything was put together! Thank you for your enthusiasm, it was appreciated.

Now, on to the tour. Where to start? Everything is put on display! From behind the scenes to everything that is seen on screen. Dressing tables, props, sets, wardrobe, little facts and trivia about the animals, the paintings - the magic of Potter revealed, be it in a magical way!

I don't know how I can put all of the information in short story for you to read, to be honest you had to be there.
It is just amazing that the studios are open for visitors and that you get a behind the scenes look of how an enormous production like this one comes to life through the creative work of many amazing people. Even the concept art was stunning!

The creative team, dressing the sets, giving characters a face.. it was wonderful to learn so much more about this world that I love so very dearly :)

Well, see for yourself;

I was late..

BUTTERBEER!

This is concept art. Ditch the concept, this is art. 

At the end of the tour this happens. It is massive, impressive and stunning. 

So that was the studio tour. I want to go back some time, not just to get the mug I badly wanted but couldn't take due to luggage problems, but to take in all the things I missed this time around. There is simply too much to see! Enjoyed it very very much :)

No on to the bottle of wine in the title - apparently entire bottles of wine shrink to the size of a 175 ml glass in England. It only seems to happen in pubs. This of course is me being astounded by the prizes, 4 pound 75 for a glass of wine?! I.. but.. wine!!
After two days of celebrating the holiday pub style, we went to Sainsbury's, got ourselves a small, one person sized bottle (which in my case would actually be a normal sized one which I would finish in a weeks time.. but more on my wine obsession later) and went back to the hotel. I'm not paying the same amount for less. Because wine, that's why. 

London, I love you. My wallet and bank account.. not so much :P

Hope you enjoyed today's post!

Love,
Anouk

London blog #1 'Would you like some London with that?'

Weekend city trip to lovely London. Honestly, can't I stay?

London, I love you. 

I'm a city person to begin with - I'd live in Amsterdam if I had found an affordable place - but the Brits have done a remarkable job turning this historical landmark into a buzzing metropolitan with a perfect balance between the old and the new.
Now this is me after 3 days being here, so what the hell do I know. But with the pubs, the architecture, the theaters, really the overall preservation of what old London used to look like there is also plenty of room for new restaurants, new hypes (gluten free dining has never been this easy!) I'd say it's got all the perks of a good city. 

And yes, billions of tourist. That too. Including yours truly.. :) 

What I really wanted to do in London was visit markets that sell street food. I'd been reading about it on other blogs and it got me all excited! The promise of small food stands all around with food from around the globe, small business owners and food enthusiasts united - it doesn't get any better! Or actually it does, very few eyebrows were raised when I asked if the food they served was gluten free. I do wonder if they are as aware about other food allergies as gluten free food is very popular at the moment.

Day one No food markets here. We arrived on a Thursday and after walking around for a good two and half hours, searching for our hotel in Stratford, we just wanted to head straight into the heart of the city after our location was found. We stayed at Cottage 76, just a 5 min walk from the center. Simple, affordable and clean.

I really badly wanted to visit the M&M store on Leicester Square. I know, I've preached for not eating to much sugar and all organic here on this blog.. it's just, chocolaty sugary treats are my weakness. My Achilles heal. My kryptonite.

That evening we decided to go see Les Miserables. Sadly no Carrie Hope Fletcher, but Celinde Schoenmaker was on and being a Dutchy that naturally made it all ok. Amazing, still one of my favorites. 

But we were talking food here. 

Honest Burgers.
Honest Burgers Oxford Circus. You rocked my world. My god, that burger. I found the restaurant when I was browsing on the internet back home in preparation for London and being hungry and very close we decided that that would be the place to go. I haven't been that happy with a burger in a very long time. Bun - good. Meat - gooood. Onions - omnomnom. But the chips?! Good god. No, everything was to die for and not that greasy! Sadly we had quite a big lunch not much earlier so we didn't order the onion rings because we simply couldn't eat anything else.
So now I just have to go back. :)

Now, being very new at giving reviews I screwed up and only made pictures of myself and the food, but the entire restaurant oozes with a down to earth, easy going, friendly atmosphere. The clean interior, the helpful staff - who I recon were also very amused when I got really excited as my burger was served - it all made for a lovely dining experience. 

The men behind this amazing restaurant are Tom and Phil. Two entrepreneurs who wanted to serve good burgers, from honest meat. They started out with a small marquee selling their burgers at festivals and events which eventually lead to a chain of restaurants around London. 

If I could name one improvement - a sign that tells the origin of the beef and other ingredients. I'm always very curious :)

Find more information and the locations here.

I'm going to do the London post in stages, there was simply to much for one post! 

Tomorrow day two - Harry Potter and the Bottle of Wine

Wednesday day three - Daniel, the Camden Market Soapman 

Thursday day four - Brick Lane Market, meet nostalgia!

Hope you liked this post and if you happen to be in or going to London, please say hello to the wonderful blond waitress in her beautiful dress at Honest Burgers Oxford Circus - lady, you were brilliant.

See you tomorrow!

Love,
Anouk

Be brutally kind

Sorry, be?

I hate being told to do anything, my life my rules. However, since we're here together, a little kindness never hurts anyone.

We tend to be incredibly hard on ourselves and the people around us these days. We HAVE to have a dream, we HAVE to pursue a goal, we HAVE to make something of ourselves.

But.. why?

Social media made us so incredibly aware of the world around us every second of every day, that not participating in it for one day can make you feel left out in no time. And not just online, social media is such a big part of our everyday life - even in conversations it sometimes seems inevitable to bring it up.
And what we see is all these different people and the highlights of their life. The result of something they've been working on, photo's of this amazing party they went to, people they've met, things they've made - but only (or mostly) the good things. Because why share what went wrong? Except if you want a pat on the back there is no reason to share your misery with the online community.

Now in all honesty, we don't do much else in a one to one conversation, we mostly keep things upbeat. But there is a significant difference in equally sharing your experiences and only getting information through a computer screen. That screen will not show you any compassion if you're a little down. It will not tell you things will be ok. However it will tell you that so and so just made a promotion and how to lose a few pounds with yet another, even healthier way of living.

Stop. Right here, right now.

Now I am going to ask you, is there anything you did these past few days that made you proud to be you?
Did you make something, did you let someone tell you their story, have you helped someone, did you do something for yourself? Anything that made you ever so slightly proud of being who you are.

We keep telling ourselves to be kind, loving, successful, fun, witty - you name it, someone thought of it.
Why not be proud because of the little things?

Life is not just about the main events, it's about the journey leading up to those events. Think of it as a road trip - you have a destination in mind but before you get there, there are some miles to travel. And when your car has some issues - gas, oil, flat tire - you can't keep driving it, you have to stop for a moment and get the issues fixed before you can safely return to your journey.
Why then when we face a problem on our own road do we want to keep going? Because you wouldn't have worked hard enough otherwise?
Says who?

Feel free to take time to live
Feel free to make mistakes
Feel free to explore your own mind
Feel free to be

The one person you should remember being kind to is yourself. If we truly want to be good people then sharing the thought that you can love yourself is an important message to carry out.
Because if you are generally happy, you spread happiness where you go. And happy people are far less likely to worry, argue or even care about little bumps in the road.

But again, this is my view on the matter and since I don't like to be told what to do I won't do the same to others. I share to get the word out there, what the word does when it's out is not my concern.

Life will happen anyways, we might as well make it enjoyable!

Love,
Anouk

Festivities and Frightening solo adventures

FESTIVAL SEASON!

Fuck yeah, I love chilling outside the entire day with some wine, some friends, a lot of music and a whole lot of new people to meet!

Sadly, when you get closer to the evening most people will be under the influence of some sort of drugs - not really my thing. I'll stick to wine. And although that did make me and my friend decide it was time to go before the festival was over, we did have an amazing day!

The festival is called 'Geheime Liefde' (secret love) and is held in and around an old fort nearby Utrecht station. There are outside area's, several bars inside the different compartments of the fort and huge outdoor tents with DJ booths underneath. Naturally there are overpriced food stands which sell nothing more then burgers and fries, but it is all about presentation right? I'm getting snobby here, as I usually get when discussing food :P No, it was more then enough - I even got my bunless burger with a bit of a discount after explaining that I can't eat bread. Some raised brows later I walked out with a lovely piece of meat decorated with lettuce, tomatoes and onions.
Perfection.

Also, I'm sort of procrastinating here. I'm writing my own 25 min show that I'll be performing June 5th. Needles to say, I am scared shitless because June 5th is fastly approaching.

But more on that later.

Some photos to give you a taste of my lovely day!

To be clear, only one of those was mine

The three caballeros ♥

 Free translation: This party sucks

Aaaaand to be continued - the poster for my one woman show!

Love,

Anouk

Day of Orange! - Carrot cake recipe

It is Kingsday in the Netherlands!

Which basically means everything and everyone is orange for one whole day. This is one if the occasions where us Dutchies suddenly get immensely patriotic for some reason, the other one is anything involving our national soccer team or Dutchies rocking things abroad - I name a Carice van Houten, Michiel Huisman, Rutger Hauer.

But it was also my birthday last Saturday! I turned 23.. my god, it's getting serious.
So in honor of our King, Queen and me aging here my signature recipe:

the Carrouk Cake.

One needs:

• 2 eggs
• 175 grams of shredded carrot
• 212 grams of buckwheat flour
• 250 grams of palm sugar
• 112 ml of sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp of baking soda
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Cinnamon, nutmeg and ground clove to taste

Preheat the over to 175°C

• First mix together your wet ingredients for 2 minutes
• Mix your dry ingredients
• Combine your wet and dry mixture
• Put your mixture in a greased cake tin (add a baking sheet to easily remove the cake after baking)
• Bake for 45 minutes
• Check if it's baked, if not bake for additional 5 minutes until fully set

Et voila! Cake :D

I actually did something I said to do many times before - I made a video!! It is my first one ever with more editing done than ever before, so I hope it's doable. I will share it anyways.

Have a nice Kingsday if in the Netherlands! Maybe the sun will join us on this day of festivities. 

Love,
Anouk

And the video:

Movie premiere #1

I had a premiere. A movie premiere.

Somewhere in my posts of June of 2014 I mentioned that I was starring in a movie. The movie has been made.

Now bare with me, this was a very first project of a friend of mine who thought it would be fun to make his own movie. The fucker did, somehow, and although the result is not the result of a professional team, he did make it with all the tinsels and bits that are needed to make a movie. Soundtrack, different camera angles, production team, premiere in a movie theater - and all of that with no budget.

The story tells of 5 friends heading into adulthood, having to make one last assignment before the real life begins. They have to finish it over the weekend, and decide to make that last weekend about doing the things they always wanted to do before growing up.
Finding the perfect girl, having a perfect night out, enjoying life in general or simply finishing a collection of charms on the bracelet a beloved father gave before passing away.

The message: Don't be afraid to live your dreams!

How very accurate since the name of the movie is 'Dreamers'

It was rather weird and fun seeing my face and hearing my voice on the big screen! There is a first for everything, let's hope it's not the last!

But last monday - April the 20th - was the date of the actual premiere. We all got together one last time to celebrate our journey together and end it in style!

See for yourself

With my on-screen besties! ♥

And my real life besties! ♥

Beautiful people :)

- TRAILER -

- MUSIC VIDEO -

But how do I get above the weather?

I've been a little under the weather lately. Which is very easily explained because due to a crappy, warm winter (global warming and such) all the viruses have survived and are now getting to us one at a time. Even my parents, who are never ill, joined me in my war of the sniffles.

It sucks. I want soup.

There are actually some things you can do to help boost your immune system! Thru food! Which is of course my favorite way to cure anything.

First, let get something out of the way, you can't cure the cold you have by eating anything from pills to oranges - you are ill. Sleep it out.
But you CAN however help your body recover more quickly by just following these simple steps:

1. Sip on anything broth based. 

Yes, granny was right. Her chicken soup WILL get you better! Now any broth based soup will help you prevent dehydration and keep your throat and nose from going soar - meaning it keeps every airway nicely moist. But I also learned that chicken contains an amino acid called cysteine which apparently thins all that lovely mucus in your lungs. Aside from an 'EW' for the word mucus, thank you Ms. Hen and cysteine.

Fun fact - Sheep use cysteine to grow wool. So if it wasn't for cysteine we'd be shivering and sniffing all winter long. The things one learns when browsing the web. Magical.

2. Get it steaming, hot stuff

Not sexy steamy - although it couldn't hurt - but boiling water steamy!
Tea. Tea is the answer to everything in my humble opinion. Add some honey to cure your sore throat and you are sure to be hydrated with your soothing cup of heaven.

The bucketlist

Don't we all have one?

Well as of today I can cross one thing off - performing my own songs!!

The venue might have been small, the town might have been small but they were there and so was I, accompanied by the guitarist who agreed to go along for this particular ride.
AND WE DID IT!

I cannot tell you how surreal this is, I never really share what I made myself this publicly. Of course this blog is all about sharing my own things because if I wouldn't share IT wouldn't exist. But I can't see who is on the other end of the screen and by performing in front of an audience, well.. they're right in front of you.
But they seemed to enjoy it!

So, without further redo, I will finally share what I had promised so many times before.

My own songs.

In Person

I Won't Ask You To

Follow My Road

Burn Bright

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Love,

Anouk

Ice cream for breakfast

Little recipe from the breakfast monster!

"Ice cream" breakfast smoothie, because why wait? It is actually sugar free due to my obsession with stevia extract so do indulge :D

Needed:

A handful of the following (organic if preferred)

- Frozen strawberries
- Frozen bananas
- Frozen raspberries (color!)
- Blueberries, frozen or fresh

- Stevia extract
- Vanilla extract
- Organic full fat yogurt
- Handful of mulberries

- A food processor

How to:

It is basically a 'toss in and blend' recipe, depending on the size and strength of your food processor. I need to cut up my strawberries first because mine can only handle small chunks.

First put in your fruits and blend them a little to make room for the additional ingredients. The yogurt, stevia and vanilla extract can be added to taste. I quite like a fruity taste, so I tend to hold back on the yogurt. Only add enough so the mixture blends well.

When all is added and blended put it in a bowl, top it off with your blueberries and mulberries and maybe some other deliciousness you prefer in your breakfast bowl!
I like to add some cranberries, pumpkin seeds, dried fig and date and sunflower seeds.

Easy as can be!

I made the white swirl by just adding some extra yogurt. Which again I enriched with some stevia because I have an obsession. :)

Love,
Anouk

Excuse the shitty quality of the first three

Le result!

New adventures

I had my very first jam session ever.

I never had the opportunity to create song and sound from nothing but inspiration by other musicians. Also a crazy cross over of styles - a jazz trumpeter and composer, a flamenco guitarist, a rapper, synthesizer (synthesizerist?) and myself brought together to make music.

I went in there with an open mind, not knowing what to expect. We just started to create :)

An amazing experience which shows that it's totally ok not to know what is going to happen. Just turn off any self judgement and create from what comes naturally.
It can be very liberating to be far from your comfort zone, it's somewhere you've never been so there are no rules. As long as you allow yourself to be in the moment beautiful things can happen, just be ok with making mistakes and being flawed.

It's what makes life interesting.

A little impression of what the yesterday looked like!

I'll be back tomorrow with my signature recipe for a gluten free carrot cake - all in honor of the Easter brunch. 

Love,
Anouk

Cinderella and the everyday struggle of life

We have mice.

I can hear them at night, running around above me. I let them since I'm not aloud to have a pet. How very kind yet rebellious of me..

If Disney movies taught me one thing it is that any animal can be a perfect side kick, no matter how small or big they might be! So I feel like a proper Cinderella. Without the stepmother and evil stepsisters. And these mice don't sing. And I'm not really the imprisoned orphan, in fact I have to loving parents who are still happily married. I have high hopes for my prince and fairy godmother, they must be somewhere out there right? True love always happens when you least expect it.
I am quite old though, for a Disney love affair. I'm about to turn 23 at the end of the month! Any proper princess would be pregnant by now!
And all my former love interests/flirts have proven them selfs not suitable. Either they were not in it for lasting love, rather a.. single night of something that might resemble love with some effort and wishful thinking! Or I was the one bailing after finding out this wasn't my fit. Or they simply pushed me aside when something better happend to stroll along.

I've been there and done that for the last 2 years (I was a bit behind on the whole dating thing) but my trust and believe in true love is as strong as ever. I'm somewhat of a hopeless romantic I guess.

Fairytales do happen. I'll stubbornly hold on to that idea for as long as I possibly can.
Dreams do come true and true love does exist! We only have to put in a little more effort than two lousy days or a week tops to get our happy ending.

All for the better if you ask me, because what to do when you've found it all? The journey is the adventure. Or maybe just part of the adventure, time will tell.

Back to the mice, as long as they don't nibble on my current dresses nor make me new one from scratch (which would without a doubt be both admirable and terrifying to say the least) I'm good.

Peter and timmy are welcome guests in my home! As long as they remain out of sight, otherwise I might side with lucifer..
Random stories Wednesday, hope you liked it.

Love,
Cinderella

What to do with life?

So.

Here we are. On this planet we call home.
We're born, we grow up, we learn how to behave in our social environment. We learn which things are celebrated and which are frowned upon. We learn a language, we receive education, we get acquainted with new people, we make friends, we grow up and realize that certain things are expected of us. We aim to please, we get an opinion, we rebel somewhat, find our inner voices and either act on what they tell us or neglect them to fit in.

This of course is life in a nutshell and as you might have noticed, much of what makes a life a life is missing even in this very short story of how to act like a proper human. This is because I don't know half of how to be a proper human. I only know what I learned up until this point and whatever comes naturally to the person that is me.
Add to that that I've been incredibly self centered for most of my life and I know even less about life in general. Because we live our lives together whether we like it or not. We need one another.

Firstly to be born, where would we be without our parents? Literally not even existing.
Second, our teachers. We need others to give us new ways of viewing things, to learn that there are more ways than just the one we already know.
And third, the people we share our spare time with. Our friends, family, acquaintances, lovers. They make us feel appreciated, loved or eager to learn and improve ourselfs.

So.

To get to the point here.

All my life I've been given things. Advice, lessons, love, experiences, laughter. All things that people gave me simply because I was there with them.
And in my opinion I haven't been giving back enough. I've been so busy with not showing my weaknesses, fears and doubts that I've been hiding most of my life. I haven't been sharing my time with the people who gave me theirs.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this year, I make goals for the end of each year.

I added one. To be kind to others and to give them time if needed. I will listen, I will give, I will receive, I will entertain, I will love, I will laugh, I will open up and I will watch.

It is a game of give and take and after many years of fearing it I will now take part in it.

Life. And such.

Let the games begin. (May the odds be ever in my favor)

Love,
Anouk

In the spirit of giving back: this was one of the most awesome gifts I ever gave. My friends husband put together a weekend with friends for this lovelies 21st birthday and I got a few on board with my crazy plan of letting up balloons!
It was magical to say the least :) Happy to still call this wonderful person my friend 'till this very day. <3

Food education should be a right, not a privilege

Everybody should know the basics of a healthy, nutritional diet. We do not all have to be chef's, we do not all have to eat organic, superfoods, dairy free, gluten free or take part in food related hypes, we have to be educated in how to keep our bodies healthy! You can help by simply signing and sharing this petition and message! 

Back to the old days

Where my body was exhausted, but my mind bewildered.

It is almost 12 am, tomorrow I have to work and later dance and then my weekend has begun. Which is totally fine, it's just.. I'm in bed, I'm tired, I want to sleep.
My body agrees, but my mind wonders off endlessly. Very annoying.

So I tried to meditate.
There is this thing where you try to put all your focus in your toes and from there you go up all the way to the top of your head very slowly. The idea is that you fall asleep half way through. I can't even start to focus on my big toe for 2 seconds, let alone get to the top of my head. My mind is extremely active right now.

And if it were important things then maybe that would be fine, it would serve some purpose. But it's utter nonsense. It's all about how I do my job and what food to buy or anything in that category. Those are not things I want to think about when lying in bed, ready to wonder off to the land of dreams.

I'd simply like it to calm the fuck down and be like a calm summer breeze. Sometimes like that.

On to attempt nr. two where I count backwards, three at a time from 300 to 0. Again, you're supposed to fall asleep half way through. I made it to 0 quite some times though.

:)

Trouble sleeping. Sometimes it's just part of the package deal I guess.

Love,
Anouk

Starbucks and it's barista's

There is this song about a certain someone who works behind a counter in a very popular coffee company.

His name is Taylor, he is very inspirational and he makes lattes at Starbucks.
This is his song.

I've got quite some performances coming up! Things are looking up and I couldn't be happier about it :D Yesterday I got to perform for a local cultural group who like to give a stage to local talent. Be it singers, writers, poets, you name it. Very awesome initiative and an awesome audience.

I didn't get to perform all the songs I prepared for them sadly, but still some are better then none.

Happy sunday!

Love,
Anouk

Outdoorsy

I was asked to be a model in an outdoorsy shoot - here are some pictures :)