Vivian Maier in Berlin

 

From today on, Berlin will be able to enjoy the intriguing photos of Vivian Maier in the Willy-Brandt-Haus museum (till April 12). 

Saturday, I will finally see her work, can't wait!

Photo via: VivianMaier.com

Thai Park

One week ago, I saw a blog post of Still in Berlin about the Preussenpark where the Thai community of Berlins gathers every sunny weekend. The women sell home made food and drinks. Of course when I heard about this ( I’m a great lover of Thai food), I couldn’t wait to go there. So we went off to the park. We brought our blanket and a book, sunscreen and money.


The food was yummy and we had a most relaxing time there in the park. We will definitely go back there!


Last two pictures via Still in Berlin

Factory Girl!

Our Dutch friends took us to a great place while they were here in December: Factory Girl.
It's located in Friedrichshain, one of the rough and artistic neighborhoods of Berlin. When we entered the cafe, we were warmly welcomed by (what I believe was) one of the owners. My attention was immediately drawn to the big bowls in the vitrine.

We were asked which flavor of Magnolia we would like to taste. I went for the cookie dough, yeaaahhh this was freakin' delicious! It tasted like cheesecake (it looks a bit like a splashed cheesecake actually). When we got to ordering, I decided to go for the pomegranate Magnolia, also very yummy!

The atmosphere in the cafe was great and the decoration is amazing. I felt right at home and happy with my coffee, I will definitely come back!  

I'd never heard of Magnolia, but apparently it's a typical New York dessert, as I was told at the cafe. I am curious. Have you heard of it before?

Website Factory Girl!

Photo of Magnolia bowl by Factory Girl!

Visit

The great thing about living abroad (and not too far away from home) is that friends and family come to visit you!

Some weeks before, two of my friends came here for the weekend, we had so much fun: sightseeing and having pancakes with tea.

Last weekend my mom and dad were here, I really enjoyed the time we spend together. The weather was not too good, so besides visiting the Christmas Markets and other Berlin highlights, we stayed in to play games (Mario Kart on our Wii, yeahhh).

Vintage Berlin

When you say Berlin, you say vintage (second hand is also okay). I've never seen so many vintage stores and flea markets in one city.

As I'm currently on a budget, I find it a sport to find nice pieces in a pile of 'junk'. And yeah, its really a sport, the first time I went to Colours, one of the biggest vintage shops in Berlin I could only spend halve an hour max, so much choice, so many clothes, it made my head spin..

So my friend and I decided to go back there one morning, ready to attack all those clothing racks. We spend three (!) whole hours in Colours and came home with some nice and cheap goodies. I really loved some of the leather boots they sell, unfortunately, none of these in my size.. I'll just keep on coming back to see what's 'new'.


Address: Bergmannstrasse 102 Berlin

Night at the Museum

The fun thing about Berlin is that there's always so much to do. Many cultural events and amazing parties.

Even during weekdays you can be one of the party peeps... Love it (although it can make me feel a bit paralysed sometimes, this overload of fun ;-) )  !!

A while ago. we went to the Berlinische Galerie to visit the "Kunst Nacht" (Art Night), after enjoying the DJ's, we made a move (all giggly) through the museum, it was breathtaking. The collection was beautiful and impressive. I always thought that I wasn't into modern art, but this is really something that changed my mind forever. It has a great collection. If you are in Berlin, visit it!

It was a perfect night... the only thing that I missed was a visit to the museum shop, it was closed.

For more information on the Berlinische Galerie click here.

Such a Sweet and Dreamy Song

Yesterday, I heard this sweet little song by Missincat and could not wait to share it with you!

She is a Berlin based, Italian singer. Her songs are poetic and dreamy. Take some time and enjoy!

Moving!

Sorry for my lack of post, I was very busy with one of my favourite things to do.. (not).. packing boxes!
I will join Marlon after the 15th of September in Berlin, however our stuff will go today, as I need to leave our apartment in The Hague before the 1st. So I will be staying at a friends house and at my parents for some weeks.

Every time I move I get surprised by the amount of stuff we (mostly I, hihi) have.

I always promise myself I will get rid of halve of it after I've moved (yes, I know that doing this before moving is thousand times better), but it never seems to work for me.

Sometimes it's hard to throw things away, like clothes: I know that skirt is so 2004, but then I can clearly picture the moment I bought it and how it felt when it was brand new!  And it might come back to fashion again! Ok.. you get my point. :-) I am not a hoarder by the way.

Today is the big moving day! Marlon and his friend drove to The Hague with a van and today we will  try and see if all these boxes fit in there.. Eeeeks wish me luck!

For all you East coasters out there: I hope Irene will be gentle, take care!

Yeeaaah!

I'm so happy! Cause now I now for sure: I'm going to Berlin!! Next September I will be ein Berliner! I'm so excited and feel like a little hyper bouncing ball. Yeeaaah!

Ok. Now back to some serious business, I have to quit my job, yikes! Bye, bye comfort-zone-job-for-six-years, I have to grow up now and go for some job searching. Wish me luck! ;-)

Image via Google

Long Distance Love

Just spent an amazing weekend with Marlon, here in The Hague. The positive side of having a long distance relationship, is how we enjoy every minute we have together.

These weekends feels like little vacations, we take long bike rides, go out for breakfast and enjoy the city by foot while holding hands.

I do need to say it's getting more difficult to say good bye to him... I miss this cutie more everyday.
Also, it is still uncertain if Marlon can stay in Berlin after June, so either he will come back, or I will move to Berlin... aaah, so exciting! I hope he can stay there, so we can start our adventure in Berlin.

Love that city!
Pictures are from the last time I visited Berlin.      

Sunny Berlin

This weekend was amazing and had it all, it had some partying, yummy dinners and relaxing in my home town The Hague.

The weekend before this one, I went to Berlin, (of course!) to visit my love and enjoy the city. Again I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of Berlin, in food, culture and fashion.
Every district is like a town on its own.

Mauerpark is one of the places you definitely need to visit when you're there on a Sunday. There is an amazing flea market and hundreds of people (or thousands?) gather to meet up and enjoy karaoke and do some barbecuing.

It all feels so spontaneous, things like the karaoke, would never happen here in The Netherlands, as before having a party like this, the organizers would have to meet up to numerous strict regulations. Love this city!    

Flight

Back in The Hague again. Berlin was great, we had friends over and went to all touristic highlights during the week while Marlon was at work, poor thing.. 

In the weekend we had time for each other and enjoyed the time we had together, we went out for breakfast, went to the Mauerpark for the coolest  flea market I've ever been to and went out for dinner.  

I was walking on clouds, so much that I missed my flight.. ooops.. Actually not that bad, now we had a few more hours together. Instead of Monday afternoon, I flew our Tuesday morning, hehe. 

Image via: Love Designxmag

Berlin ruft an

Tomorrow morning I will fly from Amsterdam to Berlin to be with my honey and enjoy the city. So coming days no posts from mich. Will be back on Tuesday! 

XX Mandy

Image via: Movie Poster Shop 

It's me again!

Hi there! Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately.... I had no inspiration for my blog and dealt with a stressful period at my job.

And.... I've made the decision to move to Berlin in a couple of months (after/during summer)!!

This is an exciting and strange time for me, as I’m usually the kind of girl that keeps hanging in her comfort zone. Ok, to be honest, I can be a bit lazy when it comes to career and other life changing decisions.

I work at a university for almost six years now, the last four in the same job. I do like my job, the university, people, students etc.

Furthermore, I went to college there as well (so it’s my save haven for almost ten years!). If I think of it, it’s really time for some chances in my life and take the jump…hihi

The best thing is that I will go and live together with the love of my life!  I have been thinking about what I can do for a living and I came up with some exciting ideas, which I will share shortly.

Xo!

Image via:Sabino

My Week

A small impression of my week. Marlon and me enjoyed a cold but romantic weekend in Berlin. I went out to dinner with my mom and had some great Vietnamese food at Little V.

We also visited my aunt who is an amazing cook. She prepared a Turkish dish from one of the finest cookbooks of this moment Turquoise.