vacation | little home by hand

Okay, I vaguely remember promising sunset photos 😉 So here comes the third installment of Ameland photos.
First of all, some wildlife: there are thousands of birds on the island, mostly sea-gulls. Large areas of the island serve as nature reserve and are pretty much left alone.

While the days were sunny, the dew in the morning made for some nice photos too (this one was taken with my Macro Snap-on lens Raynox DCR-250):

The island was so deserted that we hardly met any people at all. It is amazing how fast you get used to this quiet. When we even went to a beach cafe where there were people and especially on the way home on the highway it was a total culture shock!

This buddy lived at the place where we were staying (highly recommendable by the way) and made it very clear he was used to coming inside and treated like a Prince. This is his ‘Are you thick? Go on open the door’ look.

Ok, here’s the sunset photos at last! I took so many and it was hard to narrow them down. I still cannot decide which of these two would be better for the shop? I’d love to hear your suggestions on that!
number 1

or number 2?

The technical data for these are: Canon 450d, 50mm 1.4, f22, ISO100, manual metering, shutter speed between 1.3 and 2 seconds and I used a tripod (obviously).
After the sunset we hurried up to the dunes to photograph the lighthouse. It actually gets dark very quickly once the sun has set and when you’re standing on an empty beach all alone and the lights on your bike don’t work it’s kinda creepy. We pretty much hurried home after a few shots.

And here’s the last one, another sunset on a different day and a different beach. We almost stayed home because it was cloudy and we were tired and it was freezing…but boy, was it worth it!

You can’t see it in this photo but there was a seal swimming and hunting mere meters away from us in the water! We’d see his head popping up now and then, he was probably wondering what the two girls were doing, just standing there for 45mins in the cold on a deserted beach 😉

I haven’t been blogging as frequently lately because there never seem to be enough hours to the day to do all I want to. Between finishing the thesis and applying for jobs and working for my dad and working on my Etsy shop the days just fly by.
This weekend I am working on the biggest shoe fair in Germany, which lasts 3 days and takes place twice a year. My dad’s been doing this trade show for about 30 years and I seriously have videos from the 1980s of me as a five-year-old crawling through the corridors and playing under display tables.
Since I started helping him out about 7 years ago I have always been looking forward to this despite the hard work and long hours, because our colleagues/boss from Italy come over and I get to talk italian for three days.
This time I caught a bad cold the day before the show so it all started off badly. It got even worse when the bus I was meaning to take didn’t show up and, after I’d made it to the train station, trains weren’t going due to an accident at another station…great. When I finally arrived at the fair 45mins late I was 100% sure the day was going to suck…badly.
Well, I should know by now I can always count on my italian friends. The minute I arrived they presented me not only with a pair of my favourite sandals from our last collection but also with a huge italian leather designer bag which they’d brought me….’just because, and your current bag’s too small for all your stuff anyway’. Need I add these are also the friends who invite me stay at their house in Italy every summer for two weeks, feed me the best italian food and make sure I have the most amazing beach vacation? Seriously, guys, you do waaay to much and I can never ever even attempt to repay you all your kindness!!!
That’s not to say I’m not in love with my gorgeous super soft new Avorio bag because I am…totally, completely in love 🙂 It easily fits my camera, a bottle of water and all the other completely necessary stuff I carry around with me all the time.

Another reason I look forward to this event is that I get to dress up for it. I have been working/studying from home for about 3 years now and I’m ashamed to admit there frequently are days I never change out of my pj’s…I know I’m not going to leave the house anyway and my cats couldn’t care less. But for those three days the fashion world turns to Duesseldorf and selling a high-end fashion label you are expected to look the part. Really good reason for shopping if you ask me!

That was the least awkward picture I could find (I am so bad in front of the camera).
And while we’re talking fashion, I did say I avoid going to the city center because it makes me spend money, right? Well, I went the other day and I just couldn’t leave those shoes be, they were calling me…

They’re off-white leather, brushed to give them a greyish-yellowish tint. The first thing my boyfriend said when I presented them proudly in the evening was: “Why would you buy dirty shoes?” to which I replied rather hysterically “they’re brushed leather, it’s called fashion!”. Duh.
While yesterday was crazy busy today it’s quieter and I even found time to write this post in between clients (yay for wi-fi).
Here’s to my wonderful friends and my dad, I’m loving you guys to bits and having a blast with you!