… that at this moment I am on the plane, bound for surf & sunshine. Yes that’s right, I’m on my way to my beloved hometown!!!

It’s been a manic few weeks organising myself in time to make this flight. Being a freelancer you can never be sure when you will be booked, and so it goes that I’ve been very busy in the lead up to this trip and have been madly juggling things to be able to have this time off.

So it’s with absolute delight I inform you that French Boy and I will be spending Christmas down under with my family this year. It will be French Boy’s first EVER trip to Australia and his first EVER hot Christmas!! I can tell you, he is very, very excited. Which makes me even more excited to know that he is so excited! This sort of enthusiasm is contagious.

French Boy, as it turns out, has not had 4 weeks off in a row since he was a student over 10 years ago. Incroyable, non? So I must make sure he enjoys himself thoroughly on this very special trip to my homeland. I have a few dates organised, ideas of places to take him, and wonderful sights in mind for us to experience together. I cannot wait to show him ‘my life’ – where I went to school, all the places I used to live, my neighbourhood, my local hang outs. And most of all, I can’t wait to introduce him to my wonderful mum and dad. It will be the first time he will meet them. Wow. what an anxious moment that will be for all of us (do you remember what I wrote in this post?! poor boy!) I do hope they like him, and he them. I don’t doubt they will all get on well, but you can never be sure about these things can you.

So what does that mean here in the (blog)house, do I hear you wonder – will I be here? Of course I will! But I will take a little break from the intensity of my posts and instead I will select a random photograph each day from my personal albums (I have been saving so many for this, I hope you will love them!), my styling portfolio, as well as new styling work that I haven’t yet had a chance to update my portfolio with – you will be the first in fact, to see them over the coming month.

But that’s not all! Remember the other day, I mentioned that I was jumping out of my skin with excitement, for something very special I have planned for you this Monday? I might be in mid air but that doesn’t mean I leave YOU high and dry mes chers amis. So please stay tuned and make sure you come back tomorrow as there is something very special for you that I positively insist you stop by for – its a little treat to say thank you for being such wonderful friends this past year as this week is my blog’s first year anniversary. And I insist we celebrate in style, with something über stylish…

…but that’s all I will say for today! Oh and this: I have enjoyed this year with each of you so very much, thank you.

Until tomorrow!

xx

PS okay okay, one more hint for my surprise – it is my first EVER giveaway!!
PPS okay, one more hint and that is it – it will be sent to one of you, from Australia. Ha!

px

PPS no, it is not a kangaroo.

Well this is the last of the ‘amsterdam at christmas time’ series of photos. Have you been enjoying them? I do hope so. I hope they have ignited some festive cheer, and that no matter where you are in the world, and no matter what is going on in your life, that you have been able to take some quiet moments to yourself and enjoy this series of photographs.

I have chosen not to poladroid the images in this post, even though I was tempted, I find them much more engaging in original format – the blacks are as black as the night sky has been lately, and the moon and lights … well, you tell me.

So, shall we get to it then? I’ll meet you at museumplein. Here, as you see above, the moon is full and the christmas tree in front of the rijks museum is shimmering. We can see that perhaps Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull is inside the museum as the haunting image of it hangs on the musuem’s facade. Opposite us in the square is the concert gebouw hall as you see below…

Have you got your woollens on? Make sure your feet, hands, neck and head are well covered because I assure you, it’s chilly out there. I have a cup of warm spiced wine ready for you to take on our little wander. And would you like a song? here’s one that I adore and which I think is perfectly fitting for our little wander – every word she sings is how I fill about this beautiful city…

Arm in arm we shall wander the cobblestoned walkways of old Amsterdam together, and breathe in the sparkling scenery… enjoy, mes chers amis…

I may be a little addicted to polardroid. as are each of you by the sounds of it! and anyway, how could i resist posting this one to get us all in the festive mood?! This is a costume shop here in Amsterdam, and I just adore their festive window display!

Also I’ll take this opp to answer your questions in the previous post’s comments:

1. The text that I add is handwritten by me with my pen tablet (like I draw harriet and doodles) – I write on the image in photoshop (if you don’t have a pen tablet you can always write on it in a text font – it would look great too!).

2. the guy who created this lovely piece of equipment wanted to mimic the real polaroid as much as possible so he purposely added the effect of the ‘cartridge’ running out after taking 10 shots – a notice will come up on your screen that says something like “the cartridge has run out, please quit and relaunch” – so all you have to do is quit the poladroid and then click on the poladroid icon in your dock et voilà, it pops up again and you can poladroid away. cool huh?

3. I’m going to check out all your fab poladroids soon! I can’t wait!

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Now I have to get cracking on some super fab posts for you all… today is my last day to post for the next coming days – can you guess why??

The title of this post is not a misprint… did you catch it? Yes, I said ‘polaDROID‘ as opposed to ‘polaROID’. And what is polaDROID? It is the COOLEST THING EVER!! The suspense of telling you about this little gadget has been killing me all week. I wanted to tell you straight away but decided to play with my amsterdam wandering photos in poladroid-style first to see how it works and to see if I like it enough to share it all with you. And the answer is YES I DO. Take a look at the above image I took with my canon digital camera on a wander along the prinsengracht, and then take a look at the one below…

What do you think? I’m in love with it! I added the writing like a real polaroid. I do still like digital and original film of course! but I love having this option – I’ve been playing with it all week. And when you install this little machine it mimics the sound of a polaroid, and spits out your picture and you have to wait for it to develop – you can even shake it to speed up the developing process! It is so much fun.

SO how do you do it? Well thus far this FREE little piece of equipment is only available on macs (pc users will have to wait as apparently the man who invented this is currently working on a version for you too). Although it is free I do highly recommend you donate, even a dollar, as the guy deserves every penny! Anyway, you can download it here, just follow the instructions. and have fun! You will be poladroiding to your hearts content…

…another little bit of magic is that you can develop the photos at different stages so you can get different exposures. How cool is that? If you download it and use it let me know, I’d love to see your results.

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Next Up: our final amsterdam wander in the very dark of night. without the aid of poladroid this time. you will definately need your warm woolies for this wander!

…just a quick message to let you know i have something fabulous planned for you next week. i can barely control my excitement. I will post it first thing monday morning so make sure you are here in the (blog)house then (i will give you a clue: it has something to do with it being my very first blog anniversary!!). meanwhile i have been flat out this week with shoots, and getting ready for something special planned for me this weekend! I will tell you that shortly too!

anyway, that’s all i have to say. i must dash – i’m on search for the perfect lounge for a shoot tomorrow. argh! will be back tonight to post some more… oh I have so much to tell you over the next few days!

xx