Sunday, April 26, 2015

A day in Amsterdam - casually dressed again

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Non-Dutch people always seem to think that everyone from the Netherlands lives near Amsterdam and that we all are very familiar with the gay capital of the world. Truth is.. when I'm in Amsterdam, I'm just as much a tourist as most of the foreigners visiting our capital. :P

Natassia Crystal at Amsterdam Station casually dressed

So, last Friday, it was excellent weather and I was meeting my friend Bianca Holland to stroll around the city, visit a museum, have tea/coffee and good food.. and just to catch up in general. And what was even better, Bianca is pretty much an expert on the history and culture of Amsterdam, so I couldn't wish for a better city tour guide! :)


During the afternoon, I had some lovely fresh mint tea and after walking for hours in the museum and through the streets of the city.. we sat down for a plate of salmon, stir-fried spinach and chips. My portion was quite big, so I could not finish it all! A girl's gotta watch her figure, am I right? ;-)

Natassia on a bridge over the Amsterdam Canal


Since we were doing a lot of walking, I wore comfy ankle boots with a sturdy 8 cm heel (about 3 inches). And since it was sunny, but not that warm.. I opted for a casual jeans/top/leather jacket outfit. So yeah, that's two casual outfit posts in a row. Hope you don't mind!


We visited the Amsterdam Museum, which gives a nice overview how Amsterdam transformed from a small village surrounded by water to one of the most important and influential cities in the Netherlands and arguably... in the world (said with a Jeremy Clarkson voice).

Natassia Crystal serving beer and other liquor

They even made a replica of a typical small pub inside the museum. They modelled this one after a pub that was probably one of the first lesbian bars. Care for a drink? :P



On a beautiful day like this, we of course also visited a few monuments outside. On the left, the National Monument on the Dam Square. On the right, me posing on the Rembrandt Square.


Finally, I had to see the "Maagdenhuis", where the board of directors of the University of Amsterdam resides. In 1969, students occupied this building in order to demand more influence on university policy. During the last months, so February/March 2015, students again occupied the Maagdenhuis. Again, to demand more influence and to protest the current corporate thinking in the academic environment.


All in all, I had a wonderful day and many thanks to Bianca for showing me the beauty of Amsterdam. I had a great time! :)

(no video of this day, so enjoy the last two!)





Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Casually ripped

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I know that a lot of you tune in to my stuff, because usually.. in my posts, photos and videos.. there's quite the gratuitous show of legs! That's okay.. I might as well use them while I'm not too old, right? ;-)


Anyway, there are moments when it's not the best time to wear a short mini skirt or dress (like shopping, attending/giving lectures, visiting your mother-in-law). For these occasions, they invented jeans!


Okay, I admit.. perhaps you wouldn't wear ripped jeans when visiting your mother-in-law, but I do like the looks of them! Showing a bit of leg.. in a modest way. You know that's what I'm all about, right? ;-)


For these kinds of casual outfits, I also choose to wear slightly lower heels.. maximum of 4 inches or 9-10 centimetres. That will make those long shopping sprees possible!


Friends who have been following my Flickr photo page will notice that I have had this purple t-shirt for ages! I've had it at least since 2010 when I was on trip to Tokyo where I wore it with a white mini-skirt.

So yeah, I do try to keep my outfits on this blog fresh and new, but contrary to popular belief, I do reuse my clothing items. I don't have an infinitely big walk-in closet. :P



Almost at the end of this blog-post, I have definitely concluded once again that sunlight, a blue sky and just a couple of clouds are the best ingredients for a nice photo and video shoot!



This particular video was still shot with my trusty Nikon D7000, so the video quality is high.. but so is the shakiness. I hope you don't get sea-sick! :P





Thursday, April 2, 2015

Tartan trouble

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Hi! :)

Missed me? If not.. just lie! :-P

As you may or may not have known, I spent most of the month of March in the French and Austrian Alps, sliding down slippery snowy slopes. And it was awesome!


The good news: I didn't break anything and I returned to the Netherlands with my body unscathed apart from some minor bruises and muscle pain. Nothing that won't heal quickly.


The somewhat bad news: because of my frolicking in the snow.. a lot of work had piled up. So as soon as I got home, there was lots of stuff to be done. None of it involving a make-up brush and high heels. :-P


Anyway, I thought I would start my regular programme with some of the pictures and videos I made before I left.


This is me in my "I want it to be summer so badly"-mode... wearing a definitely too-short tartan mini-skirt and my 5 inch stiletto peep-toes by Carlos Santana (yep.. the guitar guy).



Anyway, I hope to post more regularly now that all this first-quarter winter excitement has settled down. Still very busy with work.. gotta pay the bills somehow! :P


I really can't wait until I can take my new video camera outside for a some longer and less boring clips. Meanwhile, have fun with this one-take video of me inside the house again. :)