Ehrm..

Something went wrong with my pictures :(
I am working on it as we speak.

What is going on?

Hello everyone, I am sorry I haven't updated my blog for ages.
A lot of things have happened, and unfortunately not all of those things are good.
I don't want to focus on all the bad stuff but one thing that is still bothering me is my knee. I've had the operation in March, had to go to the physiotherapist and all of the sudden I was sent home with the message that they couldn't help me anymore. I had to 'recover' on my own strength. I was relieved but also a bit suspicious about it. After a while my knee started to hurt really bad, like every day. It was the same sort of pain I had when I just had the operation. I made a call to the hospital to get a check-up. The surgeon told me that I am very unstable   and I have to go and see a new physiotherapist. He also told me that things don't improve I have to get a second operation. So here I am still hanging in there with no improvement since March. Now I have to go to the new therapist 2 times per week and the treatment is quite intense. But it is all for a good cause!

A nice thing that has happened is that my grandma and grandpa had their 60th wedding anniversary! We had a nice day planned for them, with cake and dinner at a fancy restaurant. Even the mayor came to pay a visit, she gave them flowers and a pen drawing of a scene from their town. I am still waiting for pictures, but I have one for you right now.

My outfit of that day:
Top and skirt are from Pinup Couture and I bought those via topvintage
Excuse the clutter in the picture.

Other nice things that have happened are actually shopping related, haha! I haven't told you this yet but I am a comic collector. Especially Wonder Woman and Batman related stuff. I think that I am going to do a separate post about my recent purchases, as some sort of 'collective haul'. 

That's it for the update for now. I will be posting more often since I do want to review stuff and passing on my findings to others.

Night night everyone!

Remembrance of the dead and liberation day 4th and 5th of May.

It has been quite a while since I posted a new entry. You obviously know why that is. My knee is getting a little bit better now, but I still have issues getting through the day without pain. Enough with the knee story, now it's time for some pictures!

First of all let me tell you about the 4th of May. It is a national day of remembering the casualties of WWII. At 20:00 we keep 2 minutes of silence, and that also means that if you are driving you pull over to the side of the road. We literary drop everything that we are doing. This event always makes me cry, because I have seen plenty of documentaries to know what happened during 1938 till 1945. My grandparents told me several stories of people being shot or getting deported to a camp. Something like that should never ever happen again! Sadly enough there are still so many wars going on, it makes you wonder will people ever learn?

On the 5th of May we celebrate our freedom! All over Holland are activities and festivals going on. The entrance to them is always free. Most of the times there are volunteers who make the festivities happen. This year we (Wesley, Diablo and me) went to Liberty Park Beekbergen. (click on the link to see the site)
libertypark-beekbergen

I finally got to meet Lindsay and miss Lola Lamour! Both of them are true sweethearts <3 We got asked to take our picture many times haha! I felt like a forties movie star. Lola performed at the old people's home, and it was such a treat to see and listen to her. The grandpa's and grandma's all seemed to enjoy it very much. Later on we had to serve food for the volunteers or as we like to call them, the troops! What a wonderful day, and I hope to see both of them again very soon.

All photo's below are made by Robin Peterman (Lindsay's boyfriend and photographer except the one with the 'Canadian')

Photo's below made with camera of Ido Oosterhout

Still stuck on the couch...

Last Monday I got a call from the hospital that I would be operated on Tuesday. So that's all behind me now. The pain was excruciating!!! Absolutely horrible :( They stuffed me with 7 different kind of painkillers which made me very nauseous, thankfully I didn't throw up.
Now I am preparing for physiotherapy which will start this Thursday. So a short update for now, but just wanted to let you guys know I have lived through it.

My style icons

First of all, I want to thank Isis from The Fedora Lounge for this blog post inspiration. Sometimes I can't decide on what to write about, and I think this is a great suggestion.

Coco Chanel.

Now this woman had an interesting life. I am not going in-depth about it now, but anyone who's interested should watch the movie Coco Avant Chanel. I also know there was something shady going on in WWII, but since that's all rumors I give her the benefit of the doubt. (unlike Hugo Boss)

I would literally die for a Chanel suit. I am not really a labelyouknowwhat, but that suit is so elegant and timeless. LOVE it. The original line she designed is still the influence for modern Chanel designs. Therefore I also like a lot of the new designs by Karl Lagerfeld.

Dale Evans

I've got this fascination with 'glamour cowgirls', who were very popular in the 40's and 50's. (Especially in the USA) One of my favorites is Dale Evans Rogers. (married with Roy Rogers) She can ride, sing, shoot and always has a clever answer to anything. But just look at those outfits! Yeeeeeehaw :D

Betty Grable

 Betty Grable's hair is pure art. I've used her pictures many times for inspiration, and still do. She actually wore a lot of hairpieces, since her own hair was very fine.

Anyway that doesn't make a difference to the art that is Betty's hair.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Oh darn it!

I had my second check-up a little earlier, since there are no improvements developing regarding the knee issue. The doctor said that he has to operate, and I kind of expected that already. So I had to fill out a form with 47 questions about my current health, and had my blood pressure checked. They also wanted to draw some blood for testing, since I have problems with my thyroid. (it is working a little too fast) So in the last two days I spent a total of nearly three hours in hospital.
Now I have to wait for the moment that they will call with the date of the operation.

Oh, and remember my complaint about my work? My boss called me and said she didn't want to offer me a new contract. I am not surprised at all, and actually very relieved to be honest. So now I am back to square one without a job. Maybe I'll try once more at the barber shop....

This was my update for now, I'll try to find a nice subject to write about for my next post. What do you guys want to read about? Please let me know, I appreciate any input.

WWII hero: Jannetje Johanna Schaft

One of the most famous wartime heroes in Holland was a female. A young girl that went by the name of Hannie Schaft. She was born as Jannetje Johanna Schaft on September 16th 1920 in Haarlem and got killed by the Germans on April 17th 1945 in Bloemendaal. Here is a little history lesson and tribute to a remarkable woman.

source picture:hannieschaft.nl

Born and raised as a social democrat, Jo had a strong sense of justice. She was a very bright girl and even went to the University of Amsterdam in 1938 to study rights.
In University she had several Jewish friends, so when the war broke out she noticed the different treatment between Jewish and non-Jewish people. Two of them were Philine Polak and Sonja Frenk. In 1942 Jo stole two identification documents of two non-Jewish woman from a swimming pool for them. This was the start of all her heroic deeds she had done.
When the Germans in 1943 forced everyone in University to sign a loyalty declaration, Jo decided to stop studying and moved back in with her parents in Haarlem. She took Philine and Sonja with her to hide them. Jo joined the resistance Raad Van Verzet to fight against the Germans and traitors, she didn't inform her parents for their own safety. Sonja tried to escape to Switzerland, but she got betrayed and died in Auschwitz.
In the Raad Van Verzet were also sisters Freddie and Truus Oversteegen and Jan Boonekamp who Jo admired.

Jan Boonekamp

Her first assignment was to shoot a man from the Sicherheitsdienst, but the gun didn't go off. It was a test, and she became Hannie instead of Johanna. From that day on she joined in on several attacks on Germans and NSB'ers.
June 8th 1944, together with Jan Boonekamp she shot Piet Faber (NSB).
June 21th 1944, Jan Boonekamp got killed in a gunfire while attacking W.M. Ragut. Hannie didn't know Jan was hit, and after finding out he died she became depressed.
September 5th 1944, a failed attempt to kill Willemsen. (a police officer)
March 1 1945, Willem Zirkzee (NSB) got shot by Hannie and Truus.
March 15th 1945, Hannie and Truus shot Ko Langendijk (Sicherheitsdienst)

On the 21st of March 1945 Hannie got arrested for selling illegal newspapers. A German officer recognized her as the girl with the red hair. The girl with the red hair was seen so many times after an attack, it must be her.
She got shot on the 17th of April 1945 in Bloemendaal. The first shot missed her, on which she replied: "I can shoot much better". That remark went to down the wrong way with Maarten Kuiper (NSB and SS) who shot his entire ammo from his machine gun empty on her.

On November 27th 1945 she got buried again with military honors on the Eerebegraafplaats Bloemendaal. In 1946 she received a Medal Of Freedom and Het Verzetskruis 1940-1945.

Hannie will never be forgotten, you can still visit her grave in Overveen.