Thursday Tunes.

Garlic bruscetta.

Eén van mijn favoriete gerechten is tapas (in zoverre dat dat een gerecht is). Ik vind het geweldig dat je veel verschillende gerechten kan proberen, kan experimenteren met verschillende smaken en dat je toch voldaan bent achteraf. Ik bedoel, tapas is mijn soort van eten: veel keuze, kleinere porties maar nog altijd heerlijk. Natuurlijk heb ik een favoriete tapasrestaurant en één van de dingen die ik daar altijd bestel is dit: een bruscetta met look, tomaat en gerookte ham. Ik probeerde al vaak om het recept te kopiëren en het lukte me voor zo lang niet... tot nu! Ik denk dat ik vrij dichtbij het origineel ben gekomen en ik wou dat natuurlijk delen met de rset van de wereld. Dus check zeker het recept!

Job hunting: tips + my experience.

Real life has begun. As of three weeks ago, I'm officially unemployed. Which means, of course, that I have to look for a job. Such fun.

No really, I actually have a good time looking for a job. Probably because it's only been three weeks. Three months would be a whole other story! But it's not all rainbows and unicorns either, it can be pretty frustrating too. My main frustrations?

• When a job description says you don't need experience and then you get turned down because you have no experience.
• That apparently no one is willing to give you a shot to get experience. I mean, you've got to give me a chance to learn something.
• That every freaking firm is looking for someone with experience.
• Experience is not everything, people!

But anyway, I've learned a lot too. To not take things personally for example. I've sent my CV out to approximately 10 different companies (or even more) of which I have received no answer of 3 of them and got turned down by the other 7. Auwch. At first, I was like "okay, it's only one firm. Better luck next time". By the seventh e-mail I could barely restrain myself from not throwing my laptop against the wall. Just because I had such a low success rate, I started looking into things online and I have learned quite a few things. From online fora as well as from my own experience. So here are my best tips for anyone in the same boat as I am:

Italy /3.

After this post, I promise I'm done with holiday pictures (until I get back from Lisbon in September that is). So I hope you're ready for the last part of my Italy pictures.

Liebster Award.

Hey, want to hear the coolest thing ever? I got nominated for a Liebster award! Woop woop! The ones who have won this award a thousand times already must think I'm a huge dork (it's true, I am) but for a newbie like me it's an honor!

Okay, I'm sure everyone by now knows what a Liebster award is but because I'm so happy/enthusiastic (and a huge dork), I'm still going to explain  it anyway.

A Liebster Award is an award for bloggers with less than 200 followers (since I have only 10, I definitely meet that criteria). You get the award from another blogger, in my case it was Sandra (thank you!) and you pass it on to 11 other bloggers. Sort of like the principle of a chain letter. "The rules" state that you answer the 11 questions of the one who has nominated you (see below) and that you make 11 questions for your own nominees. You also have to link back to the person who nominated you, so go visit Sandra's blog!

Pretty clear, right? Okay, ready? Set. Go!

My answers

1. What's the biggest compliment you ever got?
   
   Immediately a tough one! Uhm, the biggest compliment I ever got probably is that I did a good job on my literature study with my thesis. It felt good knowing that I hadn't been working my ass off all year for nothing. Plus, I love to write and it felt like a compliment for my writing skills as well.
2. Why did you start blogging? What do you love the most?
   As I said, I love to write. That's probably the main reason I started in the first place. But what I love about blogging is that it's the perfect combination of lots of different "passions". I'm able to combine cooking, DIY-ing, photographing, traveling, music, ... into one project. I don't have that many followers but it's okay. This blog is about my personal life and I get that not everyone is interested in knowing what I had for lunch yesterday. I just hope that some people have a laugh at my silly texts every now and then and I'm grateful for the people who think my life is interesting enough to keep track off. So thank you, dear 10 followers!
3. What are your favorite beauty products?
   
   I don't really have favorite beauty products. I do use make-up daily but I switch it up regularly. I do love my current day cream from Garnier and I'm pretty pleased about my waterproof eyeliner (which after a swim in the swimming pool actually turned out to be kind of waterproof) from Rimmel. 
4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
   
   As far as character goes, I'm pretty content with myself... which annoys the Boyfriend like crazy because he can't guilt me into doing something. Whenever he says "you're so self-centered, can't you do anything for me?" I'm like "Yes, I'm self-centered, you're completely right" and we're done arguing. But of course, nobody is perfect and if I could change something about myself it would probably be the selfishness. Being an only child I never really had to take other people's opinions in mind and it has taken its toll. I'm working on it but it's not always easy.
   As far as looks go though, there are thousands of things I would love to change (as most women, I guess). But there is one big thing that I hate about my body: stretch marks! I don't know how because I'm not thàt fat but I'm covered with them. I hate them so much and there's nothing I can do to get rid of them. They're like scars.
5. Who is your (fashion) role model? Who do you look up to?
   
   I don't really have fashion role models. I just wear what I like and if it's not fashionable, too bad. But if I had to chose one, it would be Marilyn Monroe. Timeless beauty.
6. What's your favorite quote?
   
   I'd go for something Marilyn Monroe once said: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.".
   Because it's true.
7. What's always in your purse?
   
   Besides my phone and my wallet? Uhm. Hand sanitizer and hair elastics.  And most of the time chewing gum.
8. What's your last bad buy?
   
   A cute little dress I'm never going to wear (I think).
9. What's your favorite drink?
   
   Nonalcoholic: Fanta
   Alcoholic: (strawberry) Mojito
10. What do you still want to learn (language, hobby, ...)?
    
    How much time do you've got? There's soooo much I still want to learn. This year I'm planning on taking a course in French, in cooking and I want to start doing yoga again. But I also want to learn more about photography, how to use Photoshop, to play the guitar again, sewing, ... .
11. What does your ideal Sunday look like?
    
    Since I normally work on Sunday, my ideal Sunday is one without work. Sleeping in, having a royal breakfast/brunch. Relax in the sun, go for a bike ride and a picnic or a drink. Chilling with the boyfriend. Or a rainy Sunday spent cuddling under a blanket and watching Disney movies sounds great too!

My questions

1. What do you (still) want to accomplish with your blog?
2. What's the best thing about blogging for you?
3. What's your favorite music?
4. Which tips and tricks do you have share with other bloggers? What are the biggest blogging do's and don't according to you?
5. What's your favorite place in the whole wide world?
6. Which item/category/series of your blog do you love the most? What are you most proud of?
7. What are you looking forward to in the coming year?
8. What would be your ideal vacation? What's your dream destination?
9. Who is your blogging role model?
10. What's your favorite meal?
11. What's your favorite jewelry accessory?

And the nominees are...

• Ines from INSINS.me
• Sanne from SanneWierda
• Maartje from MaartjeLeah
• Didi van Sweet Little Things
• Hanna from The Adventurous Lifestyle Lab
• Cheyenne from Wanderful Ways

As you can see I had a hard time finding 11 blogs under 200 followers and who hadn't been nominated in the past year (I didn't want to harass people with this questionnaire again) so I stuck to 6 blogs I really like.

Chocolate Chip Cookie (Dough) pie.

Chocolate chip cookies for the win! I love me some chocolate chip cookie anything, so when I saw this recipe for a chocolate chip cookie PIE (say whaaaat?!), I couldn't resist. Besides, I've planned a date with some of my friends to celebrate my birthday (I made this a while back) and I have to treat them with something, right? I made my own version of the original recipe (as always; I didn't have everything and was too lazy to go to the store) but mine looks pretty good too, no? Anyway, I'm sure by now you're drooling all over this pie and you're dying to find out how to make it. It's up to you to choose which recipe you like better. If you prefer mine, you'll find it after the break ;)

July.

Here's what I've been upto this month. I tried to tone down the Italy-pictures. You've probably seen enough of those in my Italy-posts already (and there's more to come!).

1. I graduated! And took a picture with the head of university (he's pretty famous in Belgium) // 2. Then I went to Italy and saw the Ponte Vecchio // 3. ... ate some pizza // 4. ... tested the ice cream // 5. ... saw some art // 6. and made some amazing, funny, sweet new friends // 7. I also saw these cool masks in San Gimignano // 8. And when I came back home I had lots of catching up to do (500+ blog posts to read: CHECK) // 9. I reached 10 followers (milestone; maybe a lame one but I couldn't be happier) // 10. Sfinks Festival // 11. Went to Antwerp for some fun // 12. and discovered new places

// 13. AND I went to Antwerp for business: the job hunt has begun! // 14. I still love the sight of the grand station in Antwerp // 15. And I've met a dinosaur there too!

Italy /2

Here's part two of my (and my travelmates') collection of holiday snapshots. We went hiking in the mountains for three days (not exactly my idea of fun, but I survived -- barely) and afterwards we went on to visit different historic cities: Lucca, Pisa, Firenze/Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, ... .