Little Garden

Yesterday, we planted a small garden for our balcony/windowsill. Since we have no outdoor space, I got to do this in my living room. Unfortunately, the planters featured "make your own" drainage holes...


We got a tomato plant and transplanted it into a bigger pot...


Our basil, amazingly still alive (this is the kind you buy at Albert Heijn for one euro and kill it all to make pesto... except I left a few plants living and they've grown really well!), got bigger pots and new soil.


I finally got around to planting the cactus seeds Katie got me for my birthday years ago... I'm not too sure they'll germinate because they're a bit old, but hey, I'm hopeful. The green guy is a poinsettia - also from Albert Heijn - who was looking completely dead for the longest time, but I forgot to throw him away, and once the days started getting longer he exploded into leaves. So, I guess he gets to stay.


Oh, and here are my sweet little Petunias... presents from Jetze for our housewarming, and one is actually blooming now! How exciting! It has these adorable little pink flowers.

In the big pots and troughs (is that what you call them?) we planted two kinds of lettuce, sweet peas, carrots, and radishes. So... let's see what happens. For now all we can do is wait!

Queen's Day

As you may know, April 30 is Queen's Day in Holland, a day to celebrate the birthday of the former Queen (and the day the current Queen was crowned)... primarily by wearing orange, consuming street food and drink, and buying lots of things you don't need from all of your neighbors all along the street. Basically, all of Amsterdam turns into a giant orange street fair/party/flea market.

Of course, I just wanted to fit in:

Unfortunately, though, I had no orange pants. Albert, on the other hand, donned a beautiful orange cape, and earned enough money playing flute to buy us two sandwiches!


Here's our booty: Krissy's roller skates (€3), Albert's roller skates (€9), two Asterix books and a Mongolian hat (€9), knee pads (€1.50), Krissy's roller skates (€0.50), two pairs of shoes (€4).

Oh, but we also managed to get some free booty: a Condomerie t-shirt, an Ann Rice novel (I didn't want this! But a guy was selling delicious chocolate-cherry cupcakes that I did want, and refused to sell me a cupcake unless I also took a book. In the end, I got two cupcakes for €1.50, saving 50 cents by taking the book.), golden coasters, black & orange balloons, three psychadlic ties, a sweater-dress, a leather purse, a paisely scarf, and a cute green t-shirt. Total for these: negative €0.50 (from what I saved on the cupcakes).

All in all, a very nice Queen's Day. Well, except for the tragedy with the crazy guy running people over, but... personally, I had a nice day.