ZERO.

All is good, all is well. I have found some organisation in my project for school and this week it is finally time to sign some things off and really get a start on my Exam. I'm pushing on and getting things done. Starting to feel better about it again, after a bit of feeling like I wasn't doing anything and time was slipping away from me. Turns out I'm actually right on schedule.

Can I talk about music for a bit now? Because I really need to talk about something. Yes, a new Editors album, no I haven't properly listened to it yet. No, my attention has been on an album that's celebrated it's 20th birthday last week: (What's the story) Morning glory by Oasis. And it was wonderful.

In my time, I've heard a lot about this album and, of course, Wonderwall is one of those songs you just know. But for some reason I got curious a while back. I found myself looking for Oasis on Spotify and choosing the album with a name I'd heard many times before, containing a song I knew all to well. And I liked it.
This weekend, I felt like I needed it again and I found my way back to it when getting ready for a day in Amsterdam. It ended up being my soundtrack during the 4-hour train travel (2 hours back and forth). What a great piece of music for travel. Made every bit of my time in the train really enjoyable.

Breakfast ar LePain

A few reds

A soot artwork of dreams

I was on these trains to visit Amsterdam for an exposition in the Stedelijk Museum about the ZERO art group. Oh, I loved it. And so did my mum and dad. It was all about minimalism, using and seeing the usual things differently and it was beautiful. The first thing you see when walking into the exposition, is a wall filled with white artworks. White on white with all kinds of different techniques. The rest of the exposition shows the use of different techniques, for example with soot and light and movement. The whole thing was so varied and interesting and incredibly inspirational.

Oh, Damien Hirst, you have my heart.

We built a nice day in Amsterdam around it and I had a really good time. For most of my life, I didn't really like Amsterdam. I found it too busy and I didn't like the vibe it radiated. But this changed last year when I found a whole different, nice, peaceful, beautiful side of Amsterdam and now I found myself being happy when the train drove into the station.
The decor is incredible and I probably could never get enough of capturing it, but the good thing about a capital is that it has these little interesting shops with design interior, art and clothes that you just don't find in your normal city. This time we visited a shop with HAY products and me and my mum went crazy for as good as all their interior stuff. We loved it there. We also came across a gallery that sold Damien Hirst art. My heart was happy. I could completely invision myself hanging his circle Mickey Mouse artwork in my nursery and be really happy with myself. So we walked around there and drooled over the amazing Damien Hirst and Banksy art.

I'm so glad I've found the charm in Amsterdam. It's such and enjoyable place now and I always want to go back and just hang around a little.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Concept.

So we're 2 weeks into the project. 2 Weeks of working at our concept and trying to make something that our teachers will approve of.

After a week of writing, talking to teachers, thinking, some changing, more writing and talking and perfecting I handed in my concept and now I'm waiting for everyone to get back to me with their feedback. All I know now is that my idea isn't pure shit, but there is still a possibility of some changes that need to be done. In the meantime I'm just taking care of the 'administration' as I like to call it, some inspiration searching and some organisation.

The atmosphere in class is wonderful. We've made a little classroom our own, where we're all alone with our class, working on our project. We're getting a kettle, so we can eat soup and noodles and drink coffee and tea. We'll make ourselves comfortable.
I love sitting in this room all day and just working. We discuss our ideas and progress and have a lot of fun making our own little things. I'm honestly loving school at the moment.

In other news, WILD arrived, after coming out 2 weeks ago. And I love it.
Hurts is visiting Amsterdam during their European tour. And I'm going.
Muse is visiting Amsterdam during their world tour. And I'm going to make sure I'll be there this Tuesday.
Concerts are happening and I'm happy about it.

I'm also working hard at getting my online portfolio sorted out, so I can send E-mails to companies and try to get an internship. When it's done, I'll be sure to let you know.

All kinds of things are happening and I'm excited for everything. I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, go listen to WILD.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie

A new start.

The new school year has started and it's exciting as well as terrifying. This year I'm supposed to graduate and today we had a little talk about what's expected of us and what we can expect from the forthcoming half a year.

I'm happy to have my project idea all planned out and written down with just the need to finetune it and hand it in, but I'm also terrified it will be turned down and I have to start from scratch again. I'm just so excited to start working on this project idea I have and I really really hope it's good enough and I didn't take too much on my plate. I'm just going to have to wait and see.

I have so many plans for this year. I want to live more healthy - drink more, eat better, I want to keep track of everything I'm doing and be nice and organized in all the areas and, probably most of all, I want to document everything. I want to write all my progress and exciting things and downgrading things down and I want to photograph what's happening and who I'm with and where I'm working. I want to remember this time. I don't know why I suddenly feel such a deep need to do this, I don't know where it comes from, probably the knowledge that this will be the last half a year I will spend with these people, in this setting, at this school and I just want to remember it for what it was like. For this I'm taking my analog camera to school with me tomorrow. I want to try and do this every day and just document the things I feel fit. I really hope I'm not too awkward and just take it out whenever I want to. I think it will make remembering a bit more special and it will document the process of my project in a nice way. It's also a good way to stay busy with photography, I suppose.

For the writing part, I'm turning back to this blog again. I enjoy sitting down and writing my thoughts down and I hate that I'm not taking the time to really do it. I've thought this so many times before, but I'm setting myself to really do it this time. For myself. To have something to look back on.

Maybe, school is going to start a blog where we, as a class, will share our experiences of graduating, but I kind of doubt this actually happening. If it does, though, I'm afraid this blog will fall back to the background. And I will cry over it.

But we're not there, just yet. Let's see how my first week of school get's on and we'll go further from there.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Thinking.

I've been thinking about the past quite a lot, lately. This doesn't necessarily mean I wasn't living in the moment, I certainly did at the times stuff was happening, but in between my mind tends to wander to the past and just kind of gets stuck there, reminiscing those days, when I was experiencing that thing.

My last internship seems to be something I just can't forget, Sziget last year gave me a world I crave to live in just a bit too often, Plymouth became a place I feel a weird kind of homesick to, even though I've only been there for a week.

I guess Plymouth is the most reoccurring one, this one also being the thing to look forward to. A lot of time goes by with me fantasizing about living and learning at Plymouth. The things I'll do, the places I'll go, the people I'll hang out with, plymouth is a dream. A dream that weirdly may actually be happening, a year from now.

But before that, a lot has to happen now, which brings me back to the present time. So many things to think about and do. I have to write my personal statement to make sure I actually get in, I have to finetune my idea for my major project, so I can actually graduate from my current school.

All my head is doing is switch back to the past to try and avoid thinking about the present stuff, for variation it looks to the future, where my days kind of end. I'm not necessarily happy or unhappy with this, I just need to try and get it under control, so I can actually get stuff done.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Music to travel by. (Music III)

Leaving a few energy-cracking deadlines behind me, I'm writing a blog post again.

One of those deadlines was for a magazine. The magazine had to be about something or for someone, for which there wasn't a magazine on the market yet. I chose to make a magazine for people who are scared to travel, but do dream about doing it. I wanted to share experiences in this magazine, through illustrations and text. To make it complete, I added my 'ultimate travel playlist' (of that very moment. You know me, with my obsessions). Making this playlist reminded me of this place, and how 90% of my blog basically is me getting excited over music, so I had to share. I'm only going to put some highlights in this blogposts, though, since it would turn out way too long. The playlist itself ended up being 9 hours long. Happy traveling!

Suck it and See - Arctic Monkeys (Album)
This is where the whole idea of making a playlist started. For me, this is the ultimate travel album, it has all I need. Whenever I hear it, I get in travel mood and whenever I'm traveling and I hear it, it's just perfect. Ask me for one perfect recommendation? I would give you this.

Born to Die - Lana Del Rey (Album)
I love this album. I already did for quite a while, but I slightly forgot about it and I hadn't listened to it for so long, until I was looking for music for this playlist. It made me realize how amazing it is and how fantastic it would be whilst traveling. Silently enjoy, scream your lungs out; all you need, given to you by Lana Del Rey. (I really, really discovered National Anthem this week. What a song.)

Alone - Selah Sue (Song)
That voice, that beat, that song. It's just so dance-able and happy and would make every day better.

Runaway - Kanye West (Song)
I have been quite obsessed with this lately, but let's be honest here, this is amazing if you were to be traveling whilst listening to this. It has such a great vibe. Couldn't miss it.

Human - The Killers (Song)
Just put it on and sing. Sing really, really loudly. Let it all out.

Submarine - Alex Turner (Album)
If you, after this singing, need a moment to calm down, there is Submarine. Perfectly mellow and beautiful, to softly sing along to and to slowly fall in love with life.

After putting together this playlist and printing my magazine, you can imagine me hitting myself for the music I've forgotten. So much forgotten music. It's too much.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

The full playlist on Spotify:
Reist. (Reist is the name of my magazine)

Distracted. (A look back)

I want to go to paris, I want to take the posters off off that one wall and re-paint it, I want to swim, I want to walk around in cute dresses, I want to photograph, I want to see Muse live, I want to go to a museum, I want to lay on the floor and listen to music, I want to nothing, I want to walk through London, I want to be at Plymouth university, I want to live on my own, I want to cook and eat good food, I want to dress up and wear heals, I want to eat out, I want an effortless, epic friendship, I want love, I want to read Submarine, I want to blog, I want to hand-make something beautiful, I want to not have a deadline, I want to have a free weekend, I want to be talented, I want new make-up, I want to watch Dan Howell.

Yes. It's one of those days. I want everything but this right now. Concentrating is a problem. 

(03-02-15) 

This is a post I wrote at the beginning of februari, which I just found again. Thought it's interesting, so posting it after all. This was near the end of internship and I was feeling very unsure about everything. At the moment I've kind of found my place again, but I can still really relate to all the things I was craving then. Fun to look back on that time like this, even more since internship has been in my head a lot these past few weeks. I tend to really miss being there every now and again.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Image thinkers.

I am an image thinker.

Something I found out today. Something that's going to make the start of our new project at school a bit harder then I'd like it to be.

Image thinkers don't get to the solution the logical way, by walking over the path via the steps you are taught to take. Image thinkers see the solution to a problem, and start working form there. They see the end product, after that they see how they'll be able to get there. (of course, after this, it goes way deeper, but to give you an idea of what I'm talking about here)

But that's not a bad thing, is it? I hear you thinking. No, it isn't. It's just another way of seeing the world and working with the problems you are given.
But for the project I have to make now, I've come across the fact that sometimes, it can be a problem. Sometimes, you have to walk the path you are taught to take. Sometimes you have to go past all those steps to do it 'right'. When thinking of a concept, for example.

For this project, I have to come up with an idea for a magazine with a theme or a target group for which/whom there is no magazine, yet. I have to be able to explain everything behind my idea. Why I chose the target group, why I chose the theme, what I want to tell the audience, what I want to achieve by making this magazine. All very nice, but not as easy as it may sound.

Because I found out I first think of what I want my magazine to look like. From that I start thinking how I could get to this point, what theme would fit this idea. I have been told by my teacher today, that this is not the way to go.

I had a part of my concept going strong, but there were a few gaps I couldn't seem to fill. So she told me to start from the beginning again. Start answering questions, so the idea will stand tall. But at the question of what I want to tell people, what I want to bring into the universe, I blank out. When I try to think of something, every single time, I end up with an idea of what the magazine could look like and try and fill it up from there.

Not sure how to get out of that, to be honest with you. What I can tell you is that it is quite annoying. I just want to have an idea and get started and make something already. Hopefully I will get some closure this week. Not sure how long I can keep this vicious circle going.

Any image thinkers out there who overcame this problem? If so, please share, I need it.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Music. II

Oh well hello there!
It has been a while (again, oops) and what better to come back with then with a Musical post?

Because there is some music I want to talk about. (All the links to the songs I mention will be at the bottom of the post.)

NEW MUSE! omg. I'll get to that later.

First:

As I told you in my last post, I went to London in February (and omg, was James McAvoy amazing in The Ruling Class. Dear god. Nothing but love.) During this trip I really, really got into Arctic Monkeys album Suck it and See. I listened to it on the bus taking us from the airport to the city that is London and I realized how amazing it is. Such a great album to have in your ears when approaching your favorite city in the world. My biggest discovery off off this album is Black Treacle. What a song, what a song.

Then there is Kanye West. Ooooh, Kanye West. What a month it has been for him. First, I discovered Nick Jonas' version of Only One (true love, just listen), which made me listen to the original again. I quite like it, let's be honest here. Listened to it a lot, switching from Nick to Kanye. Then All Day came out (And yes, what a performance at the Brit Awards). Ooooh dear do I love that one. Amazing. Has had quite a few listenes. Wow, Kanye, give me a full album already, thank you very much.
A bit longer ago I discovered My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and I haven't really stopped that obsession. What an album, that is. Glorious.

Next to that, I finally Shazammed a song used in a Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Fall Tour episode (EP.05) and I am so happy I did. It's TV on the Radio's Staring at the Sun. This song just makes every moment so, so happy and good. It really inspires me to vlog my time at Pinkpop and vacation with friends and edit it together with this song underneath it. So great. I also found Youth Lagoon's 17 this way (EP.03). Another great, great song to put underneath an edit to add instant emotion.

And, last but not least, Muse. MUSE.
Muse released the first song from their new upcoming album Drones yesterday: Psycho. It's so great. All I could think, all the way through, was How amazing would this be, played live. So much energy, so much guitar, so much love. I feel like it isn't amazingly different and new for Muse, it kind of reminded me of some other Muse songs, that I can't completely place just yet but I don't care one bit. It's the first song they bring out. Who know's what else is yet to come? And even if it isn't completely different and changing, I would still love it, because it will probably still be amazing. So excited for the album to come out. And maybe, even more, so excited to finally see Muse live this year at Pinkpop Festival.

And that's it, really. That's what I've been excessively listening to in the last while. Scroll down to find links to all the songs named above on Spotify.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Suck it and See 
Black Treacle
Only One
Only One (Nick Jonas version) ~Soundcloud~
All Day
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 
MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS-2013 FALL TOUR DOCU SERIES-EP.05
MACKLOMORE & RYAN LEWIS-2013 FALL TOUR DOCU SERIES-EP.03
Staring at the Sun
17
Psycho ~YouTube~

Different.

Well then. Back at school. The first week has gone by. It's so weird.

First off, I'll tell you about how internship ended. It ended really nicely. On Thursday I treated everyone on cake and it was very appreciated. I got so many nice comments from various people around the store and I had a really, really good day.
On Friday, it was my last day and it was such a weird day. I didn't only had to finish up all the things I could, and clean up my station of everything me, but I also had to say goodbye to everyone and that scared me. Don't know why. But it was so nice. I had a present for my supervisor and the guy I worked with all these 5 months. They were very surprised I did, I don't know why. But after I gave them their present, it was their turn to surprise me. They had presents for me as well. Did not expect that in the slightest. So sweet. It made me feel so appreciated. Then I had to say goodbye to everyone and walk out of the building for the last time, being an intern. It felt really weird never walking in there the same way again. It felt so normal now.

The weekend after this was pretty stressful. I had to print and bind my pieces on the internship. I happily printed my internship report (which already didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to) and bound it together, ready to move on to my portfolio, when everything went wrong. Pictures came out weird, it didn't look as professional as I was used to and to finish everything off, when I finally found the way to print it right, the new pack of paper I opened had a damp patch in it. Through the whole pack there was this waved up patch on the paper, making it unusable for this cause. I had to order new paper. But it was Sunday and everything had to be handed in on Monday. Everything sucked. Why didn't we just have a place nearby where I could just get the paper. Where did the damp patch come from anyway? The only solution was to order the paper and email my teacher with an explanation of the situation and the question if I could possibly hand it in later that week without it hitting my grade. Luckily he was really understanding and it was time for me to just wait 'till the paper came in.
Of course this didn't happen until Wednesday (usually it comes in the day after you order it, but even Tuesday something went wrong with delivery. Literally everything went wrong with this project.). Wednesday after school was all about printing, binding, visiting my internship company to give them a copy of my report and sign some last forms, and after that some more printing and binding. Luckily I got it all done and I could finally breathe. I could finally enjoy the free time I had after school.

Because I have free time again, now. Days 'till 3, not 6. Good life. Of course there is homework to be made, but it's so much more chilled out and I do have so much more free time. The assignments we got at school make everything even better. I really feel like I can work with them and make something great. This excites me.

Now we have a week off, though. Finally, some rest. No. Not really. First there is working 3 days in a row and then there is 4 days at London. London is my favourite place to be, though, so I am really looking forward to that. Then, on Saturday, it's my birthday and on Sunday there is working again. A pretty stuffed week, but a pretty nice and exciting week as well. On Wednesday we're going to see The Ruling Class with James McAvoy. Oooooh yes.

I'm going to leave it there. Long post. A lot to talk about. But now you're filled in again and I can just excite you with the exciting things to come, which will probably (hopefully) be talked about on here. In the meantime, keep an eye on my Instagram to see what I'm up to.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Goodbyes.

Let's be honest. I love it here. I'm sad to leave. The only thing I'm happy about is getting my free time back and being able to fully focus myself on a creative project. But if I could stay here, without working 3 jobs, I would. I really would. There are so many things here I like and that make me happy. To not have this anymore after having it for 5 month will be weird.

I will miss the walking everyday to and from internship. The ponies I walk past everyday (Dan, Ryan, Watson, Phil, Alex, Ben & George) (Yes, I gave them names). The little conversations about the weather or the coffee cookies with Patrick. The nice people walking around here. Feeling like I'm doing a good thing, like I'm really helping out, feeling appreciated by the people around me.
This just has been so good. And to have my very last week next week is odd. Then I will say goodbye and that will probably be it. This isn't really a place I come very often. I only see the outside from the backseat of the car every now and again. This will have a whole other meaning, now. And I love it.

I can't imagine what my last day will be like. What my goodbye will be like. I don't know if I can properly say goodbye to my supervisor. The thought of goodbye is just so weird. To give back a little I will treat everyone with cake (or pie, or tart, not sure. Vlaai, in dutch). I'm also giving my supervisor and the guy I've worked with all these 5 months some tea, because I'm the tea drinker around here and I want to give them something to remember me by (a little more special, different teas) and some chocolate, because why not. That's all I can do, I guess.

Excited to go back to school, but feeling weird about leaving here. Let's see how this ending goes.

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

Music.

I missed the birthday. The birthday of my Last.fm. It happened last wednesday and, of course I forgot to take some snaps from that beautiful page of mine to memorize where I was at this time in music. But this doesn't mean I don't want to talk about music. My favorite music. Yes, here we go.

First of, right now, I'm just going to be straight forward and come clean with this. The -musical- love of the moment is Kanye West. And in particular My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the time I was obsessed with Yeezus on here, before, but now it's this album's turn. I'm thanking NME magazine for this.

I bought that baby when in London at the beginning of the year. It had the 50 best albums of the century so far in it, with Arctic Monkey's A.M. on top. Nr. 2 was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. If they have such good musical taste to put A.M. on top of this list, so it should be a good idea to give it another try. Plus Dan mentioned loving it a few times before. Another good reason to try it again.

And what an amazing idea it was. Kanye West was amazing. I love his music. From his last two albums, at least. God, those are good. 

So My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been greatly adored the past month. Aside from Power, which I have loved for a while now, I have discovered Lost in This World. Just give it a listen. 

Apart from that, Arctic Monkeys are creeping around the corner again. Falling back in love with them.

Also, I saw Submarine yesterday. The film Alex Turner made the soundtrack for. Great one. Want to read the book. And watch it again. And listen to the soundrack on repeat again. 

Soooooooo. Not a bad month, I would say. At least for me it wasn't. I highly enjoyed it. My ears liked it a lot. 

As for what I've listened to the past year, I'm afraid you'll have to snoop back on last year's blogposts, on a search for musical ramblings. Enjoy.

Have a nice life,

Xoxo

Winnie.

All the best lyrics.

I have a new platform you can find me on: Notegraphy.

I'm not completely sure why I love it this much, but I do.

Notegraphy is an app (mobile and web) where you can write down a text of your choice and choose a template, designed by various artists, to make it look nice. It's kind of an Instagram for text.
When you think about it, it's not really that creative, since you literally just choose a template you like and post it, but I like it so much.

I'm a sucker for good lyrics in songs. (Kind of explains a part of my absolute love for Arctic Monkeys) and I regularly post a lyric on twitter. I really like Notegraphy for sharing my favorites and having them look good as well. This will be a place where all my faves will be gathered together in a collection of nice looking texts, all in a design that I found most fitting to the lyric.

Another thing I really like about it, is that you don't just 'like' a post someone made. You Thank them. You can thank them for a Smile, Inspiration, Lauch, Story, Feelings, Mindtrip or Help. I find this amazing. You literally get a notification 'this person thanked you for inspiration'. The best thing ever.

The only thing I miss is the ability to only see english posts. Since it's all about text, it is international and in every language, which results in me trying to wade my way through foreign languages on the 'Explore' page, on the search for something I'll understand, which is a shame.

Notegraphy is one amazing way of sharing your inspirational quotes or love for music through text. And it all looks so good.

I would say, just go check it out and you'll get what I'm talking about. And feel free to follow me for your daily song lyric, find me with ThisisWinnie (surprise, surprise).

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.

(Thank you youthedesigner.com for the introduction)

P.S. Happy Birthday Phil!!! (a.k.a. AmazingPhil)

Endings.

It is all coming to an end. This also means an internship report needs to be made. No, not just written, Made. 

I'm an Art&Design student, so it doesn't only have to explain everything, but it also needs to look as good as possible. You have to show how good you are. And, beyond that, printed out it has to look good too. No simple prints in report folders. No, no, no. It has to look, again, as good as possible, professional, taken care of. So I'm hand binding mine. This is quite a lot of dedication, though, since there are 3 different documents that need to be binded and I need to bind everything 3 times. That should be a fun weekend. But I'm excited for it. I have this whole image in my head of how I want it to look and I'm so excited to finally execute it and make it real. 

After that, internship is completely over for this year. All done. Back to school. I've heard some rumors on what the next half year will look like and this doesn't sound bad at all. 

And I'm planning a vacation with my friends. A week full of sun, food, swimming and good times.

Excited for what's to come.

Look out for a blogpost on my Last.fm's 2nd birthday, 

I will talk to you soon.

Have a nice life,

Xoxo

Winnie

First.

Well hello there.
How about another ramble of text straight from my head to the digital page. I'm ready.

You see, internship is almost over. Finally, actually. I'm kind of very done with all this right now. Don't know if I've said this before, but internship isn't my favorite thing. What bliss it will be once I get back to school, walk around with my friends all day, focus on the projects, try to inject all my creativity into them, having TIME FOR MYSELF. Not having a full-time job plus 2 extra's.
I'm going crazy. My time for myself is sacred to me. Not having it exhausts me.

This weekend I've been home alone for 3 days. It was amazing. I could move around as I liked to, I could talk to myself -out loud- this time, just live and think without people talking to you out of no-where. It felt really good to cook for myself, experiment with food and loving what I made (cauliflower crusted pizza and home made fries from the oven. Ooooooh take me back to those fries). I loved this weekend. I want it again. But it will probably quite a while 'till I will have this again, since Mom and Dad are taking Annik home again. Annik will be back from London tomorrow. And she won't be staying for just a week. No, school is about to start again for her, too. The family will be complete again, all back to normal.

Tonight's my last night alone. I'm sitting on the couch, surrounded by cats, with my laptop and Gossip Girl in the background. I do have to get up to vacuum. Just that, then I'm done. I have a dessert waiting for me. That's something to work for. I'm in a really good mood.

But yeah, can you blame me?

Have a nice life,
Xoxo
Winnie.