Blog anniversary & our summer holidays so far

Although I was planning to slow down blogging a little these days, I wanted to announce my 2nd blog anniversary today! I can’t believe I am blogging since 2009, July the 31st !!

And I want to thank all of my readers, followers and blog colleagues, for supporting me to go on with my blog and for all the nice comments on my posts!

Without all of you there would be no BELGIAN PEARLS blog at all !

So thank you so much!!  I hope to bring you more of inspiring blogposts in future!

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As you know already we enjoy our summer holidays these days and I promised myself to spend not that much time on my computer because I really need to relax and to have some quality time with my family. We are not traveling, we hope to enjoy spending some time in our garden and inviting friends and family.

But today I wanted to post some pictures of the things that kept us busy during this first week of our holidays.

Jan’s daughter Nele, her husband Tom and the children Alexa and Tristan joined us for a couple of days. We were looking forward to their visit!

 

The family (and the half of their household!) arriving at our home.

 

A drink on our time together.

 

Alexa was proud to offer Jan the drawing she had made for pappie and mammie (= Jan & me).

 

Alexa & me.

 

Preparing the meal.

 

The weather wasn’t that nice the passed days, but fortunately it wasn’t raining so Tristan and Alexa were able to cycle !

 

 

In the afternoon we went to my mum’s house, where there is a swing in the garden.

Jan and Anthony installing the swing for the children.

 

So Jan had to push his grandchild of course.

 

Anthony tried to teach his godchild Alexa how to use the scooter.

 

Aren't they just cute ?!

 

The other day we went for a walk in our neighbourhood and had lunch in an idyllic situated restaurant 'De Zwalmmolen’.

 

 

In the afternoon we all went to the manege ‘De Paardebloem’ where Nele and me wanted to practice horse riding.

Tom and Tristan walking along the horse stables.

 

This is me on the back of Mango.

 

Alexa is watching her mum.

 

Nele and Mango.

 

Jan is encouraging his daughter.

 

 

A future horse rider?

 

Alexa and me, Ralph and a friend !

 

I hope you enjoyed this holiday post.

 

Talk to you soon!

xx

2011 Perfect Kitchen

8 items for your perfect kitchen

1. Range hood - Although your kitchen may not be as large as this one, you can still get a great range hood to fit your space.
2. Deep sink - A deep sink is more of a necessity than you probably think.
3. Savvy storage - Dishes, pots, pans, cutlery,with so many kitchen essentials, it's also important to have storage for all those items.
4. Functional island - For anyone who likes to entertain, a functional island is much needed in the kitchen.
5. Marble countertops - They may be on the high-end of the spectrum, but if you can afford to go the way of marble, you won't regret it.
6. Wall oven - To maximize space in your kitchen, go for as many built-in appliances as possible.
7. Fabulous backsplash - A great way to update your kitchen is to put in a showstopper backsplash.
8. Extendable faucet - If you're an avid baker or cook, you'll understand the need for an extendable faucet.

Decorated wall tables

Today some inspirational pictures of beautiful decorated wall tables.

All different kind of tables and all decorated in a paricular way.

Campagne Décoration n°70 2011  Photo credit Eric D’Hérouville

 

 Emily et Nous

 

 Natalie Haegeman Interiors

 

AD Espana n°60 2011  Photo credit Pablo Zuloaga

 

Garnier Antiques

Beautiful decorated and at the same time used as a desk.

 

Unknown

 

  Unknown

 

 Collection Privée

 

Are you inspired?

xx

A Thank You !

I would love to thank my friend Tina of THE ENCHANTED HOME, for asking me to take part in her ‘Behind the blogger’ series. Tina has interviewed lots of her bloggerfriends and I feel so honored she asked even me to take part in the series.

I was thrilled and touched by reading all of the sweet comments on this interview!

Thank you so much Tina for this post

and

a thank you to all of you who wrote a comment on this post ! You are all so sweet!!!

For those who are interested in reading the interview or do not know yet Tina’s blog The Enchanted Home,

please click here. 

Tina has a wonderful blog and she is in the middle of building a gorgeous new house. You can follow the building process on her blog every week!

I became addicted to the every-week posts about her home! It is a must-read and must-see!

 

Recap image by Tina about my interview at The Enchanted Home.

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Another Thank You to my friend Veronique of the blog MALVINI.

Veronique awarded me with her ‘Natural Sharing Award’.

Veronique wants to award people who share information, aiming to help and support each other in this competitive world.

It is a new award that Veronique introduced into the blogging community and I am the 1st person who received her brand new award!

To read more about it, please read Veronique’s post here.

 

Thank you Veronique, I am honored to be the first receiving your Natural Sharing Award!

I would love to pass on this award to 3 blogger colleagues who definitely deserve this Natural Sharing Award :

Brooke from the blog Velvet & Linen

Monika from the blog Splendid Willow

Sabine from the Home Interior and Lifestyle Blog

 

Maybe they will pass on this award to some of their blogger colleagues.

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As our Summer Holidays start today, I might maybe slow down blogging a bit the coming days.

Today I share with you some holiday atmophere eye candy images!

Let’s dream away…!!!

 

Image source Brillante

 

Image source unknown

 

Image source unknown

 

Image source here

 

Image source unknown

 

Image source The Enchanted Home

 

Image source Providence Ltd

 

Image source Providence Ltd

 

Image source Trouvais

 

Image source Architectural Digest

 

Image source Home Bunch

 

Image source here 

 

Enjoy your holidays!      

xx

Sorry for the unknown sources. If someone of you knows the source of the images, please let me know.