TV-series I must. keep. watching.

Everybody has their favorite TV-series. Even my parents do. (Helloooo Midsomer Murders & Downton Abbey!) But I am the kind of person who simply can't stop watching once I've found a good show. I really can't. It has a lot to do with my ADD and the hyperfocuses I tend to get when I enjoy something tremendously, which often means I don't sleep for 4 days and forget to eat while doing whatever I am obsessed with at that time. It's not very healthy and it takes me a week or so to recover, but a big part of me actually likes to submerge itself in the world a series creates, forgoing all other bodily needs. The best ones make me forget about anything else, and I'm currently watching a few that have that special quality. Here they are, for your pleasure. But beware, they are highly addictive!

Oh, and they are randomly ordered. I simply can't pick favorites.

Reid: my secret crush! 

Penelope Garcia is my hero! 

• Long-time favorite is Criminal Minds. I watched it a lot starting college, but forgot about it for a couple of seasons. I tend to watch everything up until the latest episode of a series. And then, I am too impatient to wait for the next episodes, so I search for another show to keep me busy. I got hold of the last seasons of Criminal Minds and watched it in a couple of days. The plot of every episode is mostly the same: the team is sent to solve a murder and catch a serial killer. In general they catch him and all is well. Every season has an extra storyline, involving one or multiple members of the team. How enticing or gruesome the regular storylines about the serial killers are, the one that gets personal is awesome. I cried a couple of times during several disclosures. The characters are well-developed and feature true gems, like the technical voluptuous hottie Penelope Garcia and the slightly awkward genius Spencer Reid. Those two make it more than worth your while to watch this show, but the others are also great. 

The main cast from Revenge.
mily is on the far left, Daniel the first guy on the right. 

• A more recent obsession is Revenge. I'm halfway through the first season, and boy, the drama and scandals are abound! Emily vanCamp is perfect in the leading role of Emily Thorne, who sets out to take revenge on the people that got her father convicted for treason (and ultimately killed in prison). It is set in the Hamptons, so the visuals in this show are awesome. Pretty much all the outfits the women wear are enviously gorgeous and the homes are flabbergasting. The male eye candy is not far off: Leading man Joshua Bowman portrays Daniel Grayson, a very good looking harvard student, who happens to be a pawn in Emily's plan. That plan is elaborate and will hopefully last a couple of seasons :) As said, the drama is everywhere and it is addictive!  

Monroe is the most left, Nick is in the middle. Monroe <3

• I also have a couple of shows I watch with my boyfriend. Grimm is one of them. I love me a show with a supernatural twist to it, and Grimm has plenty. David Giuntoli plays the role of Nick Burkhardt, detective who finds out he descends from the line of Grimms. He can see supernatural creatures and has to stop them from doing all sorts of evil. Early in the first season, episodes tend to have an easy plot, with Nick finding out more and more about his ancestors and his ability. But of course, drama ensues. I really can't explain without spoilers... My favorite character is Monroe, played by Silas Weir Mitchell. Monroe is a supernatural creature, and he is awesome. Like totally. He gets all the funny lines and moments and is quite the charmer, by being his quirky self. My boyfriend and I root for him all the time. The second season is full of romantic developments and stopped halfway, with the irritating line "To be continued... Sorry!" I like that kind of humor from the creators, but grrrr! I want to watch the rest of the season! 

• Once Upon A Time is another show we watch together. We've only watched the first season, we're waiting for the second season to finish so we can watch it in one big run. On my own, I wouldn't have had the patience to wait, but the boyfriend brings out the best in me :) The first seasons centers around Emma Swan, played by Jennifer Morrison, who has to lift an entire town from a curse. Everybody in that town is a character from a fairy tale, put there by an evil queen. And that's about all I can tell without spoilers. This series takes a couple of episodes to get used to, because of the very elaborate backstory and the large amount of characters, the twists and turns, etc. I was intrigued from the start, but it took the boyfriend a couple more episodes. Once you get into it, it is down the rabbit hole with you. That's what kept me intrigued the entire season, besides of course the good actors. I loved Jennifer Morrison in House M.D. and Ginnifer Goodwin plays her part of Snow White extremely well.

So, those are my favorite shows of the moment. Of course, I love How I Met Your Mother, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, NCIS, and plenty of other shows, but these four I am seriously addicted to! These are the kind of shows that make me want to scream at my computer screen (I don't own a TV) for not being able to watch just ONE more episode, because there simply isn't one. While that being said, I'm off to watch Revenge. Just one more episode, I promise. Then I'll start cooking, I swear! 

Tea Forté Review

I was fortunate enough to win a contest at Beautylab.nl! To enter, you had to make up your own Winter Holiday tea. I chose a herbal tea, with cranberry, rose hip, echinacea and thyme. The first three have immune system-improving properties, and thyme is supposed to reduce coughing. I called it A very Berry Christmas. About a week later I was informed I won, together with two other girls! The prize? A very deluxe box of tea of Tea Forté, more specifically 3 products from their Winter Collection!

 Along with the tea, there was a cute note from Serena, Tara and Larissa. Serena's from Beautylab.nl and her sisters Tara and Larissa host Kittehscupcakes.com. Both two excellent beauty and lifestyle blogs, I highly recommend them! They hosted the give-away together.

I received (from left to right): The winter spice pyramid grande, the Winter spice petite ribbon box and The winter spice pyramid duo.




First off: this tea is heavily scented! I could smell it through the cardboard box they came in. When I opened that cardboard box and took the three boxes out, my whole room started to smell like spices. While the individual teabags were still in plastic inside the boxes. So if you don't want tea that acts as potpourri as well, this is not for you. The packaging is festive and classy, I love the warm red color! The labels are from a thick paper and the ribbon gives it a very deluxe finish. Tea Forté is a bit on the expensive side, or at least in my poor-broke-student-eyes it is. The packaging certainly shows that, I like!

How expensive, you ask? Of course, Tea Forté has a sale right now, already calculated in the shown prices, so I can't tell you for sure. My calculating skills are pretty much gone, so you'll have to do with what I remember. The total net. worth of these three boxes is € 29,75, according to beautylab.nl.

Winter spice pyramid Grande

The Winter Spice pyramid grande is about € 9,85. For that, you get six silken infusers, two of each listed flavour. Harvest apple spice smells like autumn. Apple and cinnamon, very nice! I found the smell to be a bit overwhelming at first. I had that with all five flavours, but I did get used to it. This flavour was mild, not as heavy as some apple-cinnamon based on black tea I tasted before.
Sweet ginger plum tasted sweet, the ginger was rather present, with a hint of the plum. Very warming, perfect if you're really cold or starting to get sick. Hazelnut truffle smells like warm chocolate milk, and tasted like nutella in a tea. Being a black tea, this was my least favorite, I've outgrown black teas the past year.

List of teas inside

The Winter spice Pyramid Duo contained two silken infusers and costs about € 4,95. Harvest Apple Spice and Sweet ginger plum. But look at the infusers! They are packaged individually and are tiny pyramids. (Well duh, the "pyramid" in the name suggests as such). Every infuser looks the same btw. Look at the cute leaf as a "tag"! Awesomely cute, makes your cup of tea look wonderful! 

Look how cute that is!
I couldn't get it to stand up straight, but that's just clumsy me ^^

What's inside? :)

  

The two other flavors were wonderful as well. They were in the third box, the Winter spice petite ribbon box. There is an even bigger Ribbon box. This one was about € 14,95. For that, you get ten infusers, two of each flavor. 

Sweet orange spice is my favorite! Normally, I'm not to big a fan of orange-y teas, especially when they're black teas. But this one, definitely different! It opened up my clogged sinuses, which is always a plus. The taste was very rich, but not heavy like with other black teas. I could taste the citrus and the cinnamon gave it a little kick. Again, heavily fragranced, but very good quality tea. 

Winter Chai was my next favorite. Normally, I detest rooibos tea. I dislike the taste, the smell, the aftertaste in my mouth, everything. The same for the cheap chai teas you can buy at Xenos. Expensive Chai is very nice, but again, being broke, I don't drink that too often. But this tea tastes much more light and yet warm. To me, it did not taste like rooibos at all, but maybe I've just tasted the wrong rooibos tea all my life. It's not an overwhelming taste, it just filled my mouth in a pleasant subtle way. 

As you can see, a list of the five teas and their ingredients. Some are organic, some are not. Having tasted the teas, I can say all five are high quality and rich in taste and smell. Maybe not every flavor is my personal favorite, but I'm tea-lover enough to conclude they are very very good. I can recommend this limited edition, now on sale, and the brand in general. I've looked at their other teas and I got a bit (okay, A LOT) greedy. I'm eager to try some of their loose teas, but the budget and my endless heap of teas already in possession bid me to wait. But it's definitely something I'd put on my (birthday)wish list. This tea (and the other teas Tea Forté offers) make great gifts. The packaging is classy, welldesigned and it just makes you smile. I mean, look at the little leaf! It's those little details that really distinguish regular from special brands and teas. And I consider Tea Forté to be very special!

So, in a nutshell: 

This tea is for you when: 

• You like high quality tea with a strong smell and flavor. 
• You like real "winter teas". These are definitely that. 
• You don't mind paying a bit more for your tea. An infuser lasts you two cups, so a cup costs you between € 1,25 and € 1,50. 

This tea is not for you when: 

• You don't like winter teas. 
• You don't like spices in your tea.
• You find strong-smelling teas appalling.
• You find the price tag a bit too hefty. 

So, what's your favorite holiday tea? Would you like to try these or other teas of Tea Forté? 

Things I am grateful for

Yesterday I celebrated the Dutch holiday called Sinterklaas. It's a wonderful one-day holiday, but most people only celebrate it when they have young children they can spoil with presents. Now, my family is a little bit different. We LOVE Sinterklaas. Always have, always will. When my two sisters and me were younger, my mom would write poems to accompany the presents, as that is the traditional way of celebrating Sinterklaas. Now, all grown-up, i't's just an overload of presents! :) My parents always buy us some 'bigger' gifts, we have to write a wishlist for that, and plenty of smaller gifts. (Big means a couple of books, or something in that pricerange.) My sisters, me and my parents also buy a small gift of around 5 euro's for everyone else. This year, my boyfriend celebrated with us for the first time, so I ended up spending about 30 euro's for presents. It was a wonderful evening filled with fun, presents and a lot of love. I am so grateful to have a loving family and boyfriend and the opportunity to spend an evening with them. Of course, it's not about the amount of money we spend on gifts. It's about the amount of thought we put in each gift, to make sure the recipient will love it. A bit like christmas, but we don't celebrate that with presents in my family. Just a lot of church and food.

Last night did make me think about how I live my life and everything I am thankful for. So I made a list with the most important things:

1. My family, who are all in good health, more or less. Even though my mother has SLE with its ups and downs, and my sisters both have lung-issues, we are able to spend a lot of quality-time together.Thanks to them, I grew up to be who I am now. I have learned so much of them, but most of all how important it is to give and recieve love.

2. My boyfriend, with whom I'll celebrate our first anniversary in january. I never would have expected that somebody could love me so unconditionally as he does. This is the first relationship I am in, and it has been absolutely life changing so far. To be able to love someone and to be loved back is just... Wow. Not to mention all the fun things we do together. With the holiday season getting started I really look forward to spending time with him and both of our families. My in-laws are wonderful people, so it's something I'll definitely enjoy!

3. My education. Also, to be able to go to school and university without any worries about safety, money, or any issues people in less fortunate positions have. I have been blessed with quite the intelligence and my parents and teachers have always pushed me to make the most of my abbilities. (Not pushed in a negative manner!) Thank God I grew up in a country and a family where that was possible. It has given me plenty of opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have had. I met so many great people in high school and university, I've learned lots and lots of interesting things and I have seen even more.

4. Technology. I wouldn't be writing this here if somebody wouldn't have invented the computer, the internet or even electricity. I wouldn't be able to look at old pictures (or new ones) or skype with a friend temporarily staying in Taiwan. I wouldn't be able to text my boyfriend when my train is late or quickly search for an academic text in a foreign library. Technology has given us so much! (bad inventions included... Nuclear bombs, chemical warfare, big brother is watching you!) My life would look a whole lot different without technology. Not just mine, actually, but pretty much everyone's. A lot of medical advances would otherwise not excist.

5. Basic Needs. I happen to live in the Netherlands, a small country in Europe where we think we have it bad. Economical crisis and all that jazz. Only, I think we're doing quite well, all considering. Most people have roofs over their heads, food to eat, healthcare closeby, warmth in their homes and hot showers. Clothes to put on, freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, etc. How many people on this earth lack some or all of those things? During the holiday season, a lot of churches or local charities ask for donations to help people in need. Either people closeby, or people or initiatives in other countries. I find it fascinating that most people only donate something during this season, as if to compensate, so they can enter the new year with a clear conscience. At least they donate something, so yaay :) But why not throughout the year? Even in a wealthy country like Holland there are homeless people, or families that can't buy food. My sister-in-law recently collected food, cans and small presents for the local food-bank. People with little or no money can get a box of free food there every week. That food is often donated by supermarkets who can't sell it anymore in their stores, because of expiration dates or damaged packaging. The whole family and lots of friends chipped in, so she could bring a car full of stuff. Wonderful to see how we all worked together to offer something. Even my boyfriend and me, both students with a VERY limited budget, could afford to help.

And that's what I'm probably most thankful for: to be in a position in life where I have all my basic needs met, a loving network of friends and family to rely on, an education that will help me make some sort of career and all the while, I can still help other people by offering a small amount of time or money.

So, if you read this: I urge you, if you have the time and/or money to do some good somewhere in this world, to help others less fortunate then you, please do so! Every little bit helps. Doing groceries for your elderly neighbour, giving blood at a blood-drive, donating money to charity, donating your old clothes to goodwill, to volunteer at a pet rescue centre... You name it. This world is full of people (and animals!) that could use your help in one way or the other.

Thrifty-nifty

Today I've been working on a few Do It Yourself-projects. Unfortunately, I forgot that my parents still had the memory-card from my camera. I lent it to them when they went on a vacation to Germany a couple of months ago. So there I was, all ready to take pictures. I even made sure my batteries were full, the lighting was good... But alas! Pictures will follow later, since I'll repeat those projects. They are very easy and make great budget-proof gifts.

While I was shopping for one of the projects, a variation on the Teacup-Candles I saw at Beautylab.nl, I received an unexpected compliment. And boy, that made my day :) One of the cashiers at my local thrift shop said his colleague would only wrap fragile things for pretty women. He never does it for ugly ones. But he sure was wrapping my fragile bowls! I do not consider myself very pretty, just average-looking, so this compliment was really nice! I looked scruffy, rained upon, hair in a mess, and still, they considered me pretty! Yay :)

Luckily, they didn't see what I wore under my coat, because that was far from feminine! I was up and about all day, so I went for comfort instead of class. It is cold and very, very wet here in Holland, which didn't really help my clothing options. Basic jeans, a longsleeve from Primark and a very comfy sweater from H&M's men's department. I love the colorful ribcage! It reminds me of Abby from the TV-show NCIS. She dresses full-on Goth, which is not my cup of tea, but some of her outfits are stunning! I remember her wearing a similar shirt in black and white one episode, but I can't find a picture. Oh well. I like mine better because of the colors! It's a men's fit, so it's slouchy. Perfect for days like this, when I don't care much about looks. And it gives me an instant happier mood with its bright colors!

First posts are the hardest

A first post on a new blog is always difficult. Or so I've been told, I've never had the pleasure of "owning" a blog before. But here we go anyway!

I'll quickly state what this weblog will be about and what kind of content you can expect. Of course I won't limit myself to said list, I'm rather fond of change and the unexpected!

The title says it all, really: I believe there are so many beautiful things for us humans to see and experience during our lives. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that fact and just rush on with our busy schedules and plans and work and so on. I don't like to rush things, because I experience so much more when I take the time to stop and look more closely at things. I also believe beauty is not just in your exterior look. Your inner beauty is probably even more important! Because I sometimes struggle with accepting my inner and outer looks, I'll definitely be writing about that. Make-up, skin-care, fashion... Anything I come across that I'd like to review. But because I know all too well that life is not just about finding the perfect lipstick, I'll also talk about what makes my (and your) inner beauty shine! Good food, things that inspire happy thoughts, DIY's to brighten your day or someone else's, and probably some nice recipes for cakes and cookies. Because we all need cookies from time to time, just sayin'...

So... Future subjects: check! Mentioned cakes and cookies: check! Explained blogtitle: check! Pfew, apparently I just wrote my first post, and lived to tell the tale. I hope you, my reader, as of yet still non-existent, will enjoy the little treasures I lay out on these pages. If not, any constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Calling me names is not considered constructive ;)