My 2013 Favourites

My 2013 Favourites!

Watch if you feel bored and need some chattering.

Grab a cuppa and the best wishes for 2014!

with love, Iris

The Christmas Tag!

Bloglovin

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Toodles!! Xx

A Sunday of Work poem

Sitting here, waiting for something to happen
Just listening to the wind that keeps blowing
Enjoying the sound of birds that keep singing
Such a peaceful morning of Spring

Another task shoots through my head
To worry over in a few hours
This is too quiet and too pleasant
To disturb the silence of the present

Yet the silent consists of sound
Wandering through the empty space
Steam from the cup filled with tea
Yes work can be nice to me

(picture by ~wiwionart)

-- A quick hello to this neglected part of my interaction with the internets. Again at work (I really should be working haha) but this idea of a bit of poetry shot through my head so I thought of sharing it here :) If you'ld like to read more of my work visit my DeviantArt: ~dazzling93 

Have a great day and enjoy every bit of it.
Toodles!! Xx

Awaiting Spring and catching up with friends

Hi guys,

I'm at work at the moment -- oooh she is writing blogs at work you sneaky girl -- yes I am, the privilege of my job is that as long as I get my work done, I can basically do whatever I like. I work at a small hotel in the town that I live in, as a hostess. And at the moment it is quiet and the laundry isn't done yet, so I thought I could write a blog whilst I'm waiting :)

Yesterday I had the chance to finally catch up with one of my best friends. Going to college in different cities and me working every other weekend and her having a boyfriend can take up a lot of your time, so we have to grab every moment we can have. And to our great shame, we hadn't seen each other since I believe January.
As we almost always do when we can meet up is having lunch in town, so that we have delicious food - one of our weaknesses - and have a few hours to chat. It was so good to see her; it was like we'd seen each other the day before and when she eventually went home my throat was slightly sour from all the talking!

It is so special to realize that you have so many incredible people around you. 

Sometimes when you see those quizzes in teen magazines or the internets about friendship, there is most of the time a question about 'would you rather have a group of friends or one or two very close friends'.

I definitely fall in to the category of having a few very close friends.

And I don't think I would want to have it any other way, they know you so well that one look can be enough to give you comfort or crawl over the ground in laughter.
Though all of my best friends - thinking about it is letting me realize that I actually have a lot of best friends - are girls, and I absolutely love them, I would also love it to have some more 'guy-friend's'. 

In my work-area, becoming a speech therapist, there aren't a lot of males. Which I think is a real shame and definitely sets the mood a bit. Girls can go on about stuff for so long, without any decisions being made, guys do that so quickly with some sort of no-nonsense. Plus they can bring that sense of humor that girls just don't posses and can be quite hilarious.
But I am subscribed to a lot of amazing people on YouTube, so I think I get enough of testosterone humor every week :')

So that's that for my small work-avoiding-update and I shall check on the laundry in a bit.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Iris

 - some Spring pictures since I can't wait for Spring to start, I'm in need for sunshine, flowers, singing birds and lovely days :)

Oh hey there, she's alive!

Hiya everyone,

One of my bestest chummies -check out stellavitrum.blogspot.nl she's amazing- also started a blog and that's when I realized I had one too!
*hides away in a corner of shame*
But ey, everything takes time to get used to and why not give it a go once in a while?
This time I didn't want to review a book, I wanted to chat away, so if you are not interested in that, cover your eyes and hum a good tune - or click on my chummy's blog :)

I've said in a previous blog that I am from the Netherlands in a teeny tiny town that has a lot of cheese and deliciously sweet syrup waffles -- there is honestly no proper translation for them, I am very sorry.
That can leave people to the question to why the heck I'm writing in English. I do that absolutely everywhere, my books, on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, my journal and even in my mind.
I have a strange fascination with the language, it helps me think and it sounds better than in the sometimes rude Dutch language.
This fascination is so strange for the people around me, they cannot understand why I would do such a thing. But for real, what does my family care about the fact that I write in English on Facebook? They say I am too 'technical' and that sometimes they find it hard to translate my messages. I consider this not my problem, I may have motives. I actually quite enjoy the fact that they can't read everything I say -- if they would only quit complaining since it is my life.
I haven't grown up with the language, apart from the fact that I've watched Notting Hill and Pretty Woman from the age that I could read along with the subtitles. It only is getting a bit out of hand up till the point that I can't find the Dutch word and need to say the English word and translate that before I know what the right word is. Still - some grammar mistakes etcetera are still in order, I am no bilingual and a human - so I am allowed to make mistakes...?

Since I've also said in a previous post that I write books -- at least I attempt to write them. And they are also written in English. Why do I do that, some people may ask? It is for the simple fact that you can describe things so much prettier and some kind of fuller than in Dutch -- which no doubt will be horribly translated if they ever get published. For example, I absolutely love The Mortal Instruments series by the amazing Cassandra Clare. Some Dutch translator thought it would be all right to translate that into the Chronicles of the Underworld.
And I can say with every fiber of my human being, that that person should be fired from his or her job. Because if the Translator had read that book, he or she would know that the book isn't about the Underworld. The main characters are Nephilim - half humans and half Angels. The Underworld is only a slight part of it, yes they kill Demons or send them back to their realms but really - that isn't what the books are about. They are about the Mortal Instruments, the Mortal Cup, The Mortal Sword and last but not least the Mirror. It may sound like I am a know it all and stuff and I know that not everyone will agree with me but it literally pains me that the Translator hasn't read the books properly. Is it too much to ask that someone knows what they are translating?
And this is why I am trying to figure out if I want to study English after I have graduated Speech Therapy. Because I would love to learn more about the language and I might want to start translating books, so I know that I can pour my heart in it and give the books and their authors whom have worked so hard for it, their proper translation.

Having that said - phew that was my complaining part, again I'm sorry - back to my 'books' by lack of proper word for Stories Unfinished. I am currently working on three books that are progressing nicely, and I have about five - yes it is insane, I'm very aware of that - ideas that need to be worked out. I am really insecure about putting things out on the internets since you never know if someone will copy it and use it for their own stories. Plus I am also insecure about my writing style. At the moment I am following a minor - a small course inside the Speech Therapy subject - that includes Creative Writing and I am very excited about that!
We are doing some fun assignments like describing a paper bin or the person that is sitting opposite you. We also have to write a fairy tale based on an event in your life. So that's what keeping me busy lately :)

I hope that I can keep up with blogging from now on. I don't think that there will be many book reviews since school is taking up a lot of my reading time and I am re-reading a lot of books lately. Which means that there probably be more chatting types of blog posts. Maybe some hauls I did lately? My bank account is seriously complaining and I should start saving for my trip to London this summer. I already have a bit too large list of stuff that I want to buy over there.

Thanks for reading :)
Love, Iris

Rapture by Lauren Kate (Fallen #4) 5 cups of tea!

The sky is dark with wings . . . .

Like sand in an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past they must find the place where the angels fell to earth. Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again.

Yet together they will face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen.

For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now will be the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win?

The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer. (Goodreads.com)
-----------------------------------------


How to begin?
This book kept me awake after I read it.
This book is very accurate in hitting a place in your heart where it settles with stitches made of the same tissue as everything that you hold dear and can cause you pain if you want to have it removed.
I think that pretty much covers it.
Well not exactly but I am truly blown away by how good this book is. I think that Lauren Kate is a fabulous author. She can make lines so beautiful that you have to read them again plus her way of describing a scene is very well done.
This book has some huge themes to focus on, certainly after Passion. I honestly thought that Passion wasn't as good as Fallen and Torment and I was a bit scared and curious on how Lauren Kate would finish it. Certainly after her lovely short stories of Fallen In Love.
I can say that she's reached the top 5 of my favorite authors with Rapture.
The way she spins the bible into this book and explains things, is brilliant. She really made me think; well yeah, maybe it is/was like that. And then there is the lovestory. It is huge, it is sweet and has a certain dark edge to it. It isn't like Romeo and Juliet, thank 'heavens' no, though I think it is definitely as beautiful and capturing.
The only thing I'm stuck with is this; I want to know what happened to my beloved Cam. Because he is on of the best bloody characters in the entire series.
Further complaints I have not. I'm still too blown away!
Absolutely deserved 5 stars and a place in my heart (and it is crowded in there with all those beautiful fictional characters, I can tell you that!)