intro

Wish you a lovely weekend!

{images from my instagram}

What did you do last week? Was it a nice week? I believe most Dutch people are preparing for the the big celebrations for Queens-day ... extra special this year because we the Netherlands is getting a new King and Queen ... Yesterday I went to see how my boys had fun at their new Dutch school in Singapore ... all kids dressed up in orange playing games and eating traditional Dutch snacks.

But I am also preparing for my mom's visit next week ... so happy that she is coming over. More cleaning up to do this weekend but in a relaxed mood and when I have time I will visit Public Garden today iver at the SIngapore museum. I heard this is one of the best craft markets in town.

I wish you a great weekend too and hope to see you back on Monday. ~irene xoxo

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snapshots of my life

Just a collage from some of my instagram images ... I enjoy taking snapshots of my boys, corners in our home, what we see on the street and little things I treasure.

Are you already instagramming?

.. Bloesem at Instagram

Saying goodbye to Kuala Lumpur

{image by Marjon Hoogervorst from my boys in our Kuala Lumpur home}

Lovely readers and online friends… yesterday I shared a post on Bloesem Living about why we moved to Singapore last week and I feel I have to post the words here too as many of you not always visit my other blog ... so this is what I had to say:

"I feel I have not let you in on some, very exciting news I think…it has been so hectic these last couple of weeks or months actually that I really only now find the time to tell you more about this… in short – after having lived in KL for almost six years, we moved to Singapore – we only arrived last week so I consider myself lucky I have my internet connection sorted (almost…). Our move to Singapore fills me with both excitement and, I must admit, some sadness. Exciting because my new home-town is absolutely buzzing with creative vibes and is home to many of my online friends. It has beautiful architecture, is clean and provides for a safe environment for my two (three...) Boys.

I feel sad to leave behind the many good friends I’ve made in KL over the years – local, international or some combination of both – KL is a true melting pot of cultures and people which is what I love so much about that city. In addition to the amazing food and shop culture. In the past, our moves were always instigated by my husband finding yet again a job in an ‘exotic’ place, but this time, truth be told, I was the one that told my husband that we should move. Why you might think? Well, personally, I have started to feel increasingly unsafe in KL. And this not a ‘posh high maintenance expat mom’ complaining, but a genuine concern about safety is widely felt by locals and internationals alike. This sense of not being safe creeps up on you – first, you are not really aware of it but then you are suddenly overwhelmed by it when you find yourself discussing with friends (attempted) child abductions, violent break-ins, bag snatching and carjacking more or less routinely.

The British school my boys attended doubled and then seemed to have tripled the number of guards at the school gates after a Dutch boy who attended an American school was kidnapped (and later released unharmed). This case made the news, but there are many cases of child abductions (some that don’t end well) of local kids that do not make the headlines. Similarly, our gated community started to feel more like a prison – with my friends joking whether the dozens of guards were meant to keep the residents in or the bad guys out. Especially females and kids are vulnerable – all of my female friends have drivers that double – in their own words – as body guards. KL was not like this when we arrived there almost six years ago – and my friends who have lived there all their lives or much longer than we have, assure me that KL, while rough around the edges perhaps, was a friendly and safe place.

Then, very unfortunately, the risk of harm to me and my family hit very close to home – I will spare you the details but suffice to say that I and my boys have been threatened and stalked. This can happen everywhere of course, but to me that was it – I knew we had to move.  Constantly being on guard when walking around on the streets and not even daring going out by myself at night. Just simple things that I have always taken for granted, such as going to a shopping mall with my kids and doing some groceries started to feel uncomfortable and unsafe. 

Of course, this is my personal experience, and I am sure there will be Malaysians and expats that disagree wholly or partly with me. The fact is that this is indeed my experience – a bad one, among the many good experiences that I have had living in Malaysia. And just like the positive ones I wanted to share this with you in the most balanced and transparent way possible.

I always told my husband that I would follow him everywhere around the globe, but that I would never live in a place where I felt my children would be unsafe. I don’t want to be naïve as I know there are many places in this world that are unsafe, especially for kids, and many of the people that are affected by those circumstances cannot simply pack up and leave – so, yes, I consider myself very fortunate that we were able to move to Singapore.

I do feel sad to have left Malaysia…a beautiful country with a friendly and diverse people. But I will cherish many fond memories of our time in KL, although I wish I could have moved for more positive reasons.

So Hello Singapore! Excited and thrilled that we can start a new phase in our life. I will be sharing with you all the great things this city has to offer…starting this week with insights on local design and interesting places to visit...

~irenexoxo"

 

photo credit: Vorstin

Four years old and counting!

Crazy busy lately... moving house ( tell you more about that later this week), a new school for the boys (always good for exciting times) and my baby boy turns 4 today! ... even more excitement in the house!

I am so very thankful for this little guy in our life. He is a happy, pleasant, naughty, funny and just a very sweet boy. I am also very proud of him and his brother for cooping so well with this move to a new country and going to a new school, sleeping in a new bedroom and all the chaos that comes with moving house.

Normally I like to make things myself to decorate the cupcakes, but this year there just wasn't any time. So I was very happy when I found the beautiful meri meri products in a shop here in Singapore yesterday.

I bought the Brave Knights kit and that was a very smart move of me... Kiet LOVED it and I think the kids in his class too .. or were it the delicious cupcakes :)

We celebrated early this morning at the breakfast table singing songs for our little boy and gave him his presents. A puzzle from djeco and cowboy playmobil. Both brought happy smiles to his face... and ours :) ~ irene xoxo

 

photo-credit: all images by Irene from Bloesem

Enjoy the weekend

Perhaps you remember that I said at the beginning of this year that I would like to focus more on my own photography and share more personal things on both BKids as BLiving ... so I hope you like these impressions from our home ... above playmobile from my 'vintage collection' ... gosh can't believe it has been almost 35 years ago that I played with this little hospital :) ... getting old!







Truly wish you a beautiful weekend ... and a lot of snow fun for my friends in the Netherlands.

Monday I will be back with some news! xoxoirene

All images are by me, Irene from BKids

Hello 2013

~ Happy New Year ~

Are you looking forward to the New Year as much as I do ... after a rough ending in 2012 I am really excited about the future. I'm not the person making all sorts of new year resolutions ... probably because I don't like “rules” too much...but One very important thing I have decided on is that I will focus on this year for my blogs is high quality - unique - my kind of style posts ... spending more time making these posts than tweeting, facebooking and pinning ... this social media rat-race has taken me away from the thing I really love to do and that is finding and making nice content for my blogs! ~ Hope you agree :) ~ irene xoxo