FestiFair and Kings day

I'm on a mini-holiday! :D

My long time high school friend has her Masters graduation this Wednesday and it was Kings day this Monday (an official Dutch holiday!) so I took half the week off! I feel so freaking bad ass.

But my week started being awesome long before that, when I went to the FestiFair at the Abbing garden center last Saturday. Unfortunately the weather was really gloomy and rainy, but hey, we're Dutch so we should be used to it ;)

Yesterday, we celebrated the birthday of our Monarch, King Willem-Alexander of Orange! For Kings day, we have this long standing family tradition to visit the lovely village of Blaricum, where a good family friend lives, although she's in Nepal at the moment. Thank God she was not hurt by those terrible earth quakes over there, but my heart goes out the all the people who have lost their families and homes.

It's always a cozy gathering of festivities, with food, drinks and all kinds of stands to browse trough. However, if you like to do some more serious (but cheap) shopping, Blaricum is the place to be! Since Blaricum and its surrounding villages (like Laren) are rather wealthy, it is the center of some rather nice second hand shops! I recommend taking a peek at the Gooische Fashion Outlet or Seconda. So if you are looking for, lets say, a Dubarry coat or Chanel bag, this is the place to be!

 If you'd like to see more of Blaricum, visit this page, and watch some of the lovely Kings day pictures!