Hey there! Long time no see! That's right: I am finally back from the dead (or to be more precise: the sleep-deprived study hermits). The last two months I had to focus on writing my graduate thesis and passing my final exams in order to finish law school, and..... now I have! 

I know it has been a bit quiet over here for almost a month. I just couldn't really find the time to write something substantial enough for the blog. My deepest apologies :-( 

"So, what have you been doing?", you might ask. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might have noticed I spent the last week of August, and first few days of September touring the South of England. For those of you missing the usual travel posts: don't worry, I'll write about my shenanigans over there the coming week! Can't wait to share with you the great time I had over there (and I can't wait to go back again! Sort of already planning a short trip to London next December, but nothing's final yet)!

And another big update from me: I am SO VERY VERY HAPPY to say that I graduated a few weeks ago from Erasmus University Law School with a Bachelor's degree in Dutch Law! :-D

But what's next now that I finished studying? Well, I am not quite finished studying yet, since I enrolled in a postgraduate course Commercial and Company Law, which started this week. My first course is Research & Writing Skills, for which I have to write a thesis about EU customs and free trade, so it is going to be a very busy time, but I am very excited! 

Hopefully I'll have my Master's degree Commercial and Company Law this time next year, so I'll have to start figuring out what I would like to do and where I would like to work once I am done, which means attending a lot of masterclasses, in-house days and recruitment events. Networking has never been my forte, so wish me luck!

But between all the studying and career stuff of course I will also make time to keep doing something else I really love, blogging!  I have a lot of blog post ideas on the shelf already, ready to be written, so you will still have your regular dose of posts about fashion, travel, interiors, Kate and cats, with a quirky pinch of me :-P 

So, in the spirit of study and careers, I'll leave you for now with a few inspirational quotes!

When it comes to blogging, it is easy to only write the things about yourself that you feel are the most appealing to others, and you'll often take several more photos, just to be sure that there is one that shows your very best angle.  But often the most quirky habits and facts about someone define that person a lot more than their best angles. So, for the sake of you getting to know me better, here are 15 random facts about me.

T.G.I.F everyone! 

P.S. Don't forget to enter in the Gasparre Cashmere sweater giveaway! 

February just started, which means that Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Although I am not a bit fan of those 'cheesy and easy'  romantic comedies, I love a great love story as much as the next girl. So, to get in the mood for St. Valentine, below my top ten favourite romantic movies. You might notice I have a weak spot for tragic (and often historical) loves....

Cast: Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler
Summary: When Holly Kennedy loses the love of her life, the charming Irishman Gerry, when he dies of a brain tumor, it takes the life out of her. When she receives a cake on her 30th birthday, it comes with a tape recording of Gerry. Holly discovers that Gerry planned ahead, by writing her a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief, but in rediscovering herself.
Favourite quote: "It doesn't count when you're wearing Marc Jacobs from Minneapolis!" 

Cast: Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams
Summary: In 1940s America, local country boy Noah Calhoun falls in love with young heiress Allie Hamilton, and they share a passionate summer love. But the pair is separated by Allie's disapproving parents, who move her away, and Allie's mother hides all letters sent by Noah. However, the story of their love, written in the eponymous notebook, proves that it really does conquer all.... even age.
Favourite quote: "That's my sweetheart in there. Wherever she is, that's where my home is."

Cast: Voices by Paige O'Hara (Belle) and Robby Benson (Beast)
Summary: Do I even have to tell? I mean: books, magic and a candelabra called Lumière, does it get any better? 
Favourite quote: "Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. 

Cast: Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey
Summary: Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend Clementine underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory when their relationship turned sour, decides to do the same. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover the love they had to begin with. From deep within his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure. 
Favourite quote: "Meet me in Montauk..." 

Cast: Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm
Summary:  Princess Elisabeth, 'Sissi',  lives in Bavaria with her family. When her mother Ludovika is invited by her sister Archduchess Sophie to take Sissi's older sister Helene to the Austrian court in Ischl, in order to arrange a royal engagement for Helene and the young emperor Franz Joseph, Sissi goes along. However, Franz falls in love with the spontaneous Sissi, instead of the sophisticated Helene. Something his headstrong and arrogant mother doesn't approve of... (Alright so this one is a bit cheesy yes ;-) )

Cast: Keira Knightley and Matthew McFayden
Summary: Based on the novel by Jane Austen by the same name, this is a classic tale of love and misunderstanding. When the spirited Elizabeth Bennett meets the handsome but proud Mr. Darcy she believes he is the last man on earth she could ever marry. But as their lives become intertwined, Lizzie finds herself captivated by the very person she swore to loathe for all eternity. 
Favourite quote: "Miss Elizabeth. I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment." 

Cast: Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck
Summary: When Princess Anne is visiting Rome during a highly publicised tour through Europe, she escapes her royal retainers and scampers incognito through the city. There she meets American journalist Joe Bradley who pretends that he doesn't recognize her and offers to give her a guided tour of Rome. Joe, recognizing a hot news story, hopes to get an exclusive interview but he falls in love with Anne instead. 
Favourite quote: " At midnight, I'll turn into a pumpkin and drive away in my glass slipper."

Cast: Keira Knightley and James McAvoy
Summary: When 13-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner, a servant's son, at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening. After the incident she discovers a lustful letter from Robbie intended for Cecilia and then concludes he must be a sex maniac. So when her cousin Lola is raped, she makes herself believe that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed and tells so to the police. This childish act has lasting repercussions for all of them. Also, Benedict Cumberbatch!   (although a bit on the creepy side....)
Favourite quote: "I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me."

Cast: Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens 
Summary: Not exactly a movie, but still worth to watch. Set at Christmas time 1919, we see how the Crawleys celebrate the holiday season. When Mary's fiancé Carlisle gets more annoyingly arrogant and jealous by the day, and her father Roberts learns of her 'Turkish'  secret, Mary decides to break of the engagement and then Matthew FINALLY proposes!
Favourite quote: "Life is a game in which the player must appear ridiculous."

Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes
Summary: Near the end of WWII A burn victim, a nurse, a thief, and a sapper find themselves in an old Italian villa close. Through flashbacks of the burn victim, the story is told of Count Almásy, an Hungarian map maker who is on an archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya when he meets the beautiful and refined English Katherine Clifton, and her husband Geoffrey. Almásy and Katherine fall in love and have an affair, with tragic consequences....
Favourite quote: "I once traveled with a guide who was taking me to Faya. He didn't speak for nine hours. At the end of it he pointed at the horizon and said, "Faya!" That was a good day."

So, naturally, I now want to know what romantic movies are your favourites!

Hello everyone! Currently, I am celebrating Christmas with my family and I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday! 

Also, I want to thank all of you you so much for following Tatiana's Delights throughout the year. Your support has been such a gift to me! 

The Vandersluis family is a family filled with cats (5 of them at the moment), so of course they had front row seats during the present unwrapping... 

I hope Santa brought you everything that you wished for, and that your day is filled with warmth, laughter, and lots of food!  

Unfortunately, Halloween is not as big in the Netherlands as it is in the US :(  In the last week of October there are some Halloween themed parties in clubs and at sororities, but we don't have the tradition where children go ' Trick-or-treat'-ing. But that doesn't have to stop me from writing about it of course :-P Wearing a costume is part of the Halloween tradition, and I do love fancy dress parties every once in a while. Apparantly, so does Kate, so it has the Royal Seal of Approval!

Now that William and Kate's university days are in the past, we won't see them dressed up anymore, but fortunately, there are several pictures of Kate in costume from that time. 

But Kate is not the only royal who likes to dress up occasionally. Some other royals seem to be quite the professionals  when it comes to fancy dress parties and other costumes occasions. Below are a few of my favourites: 

Also, for this Halloween themed post, I thought I'd share the most ghoulish place I ever visited: the Sedlec Ossuary, in the Czech Republic, also known as the Church of Bones. 

This ossuary is located just outside the town of Kutna Hora, not far from Prague. When the abbot of the monastery in Sedlec returned from the Holy Land in 1278 with a small amount of earth, he sprinkled it over the cemetery, after which the place became a popular burial site. Because of it an ossuary was build in the 1400s to make place for new burials. In 1870 a woodcarver, František Rint, was ordered to put the large bone heaps in the ossuary into order. The result was this rather macabre looking place. Now, the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people function as decorations in the shape of a large chandelier, a coat of arms, four bell-shaped mounts, and the signature or Mr. Rint. Would be a very suitable place for the Adams Family to live, wouldn't it? 

And last but not least: Happy Halloween everyone!

Sinterklaas is one of the most important holidays in the Netherlands. We do celebrate Christmas, but the person of Santa Claus has (next to) no role in that. It is much more the traditional Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, with added presents under the Christmas tree and a turkey for dinner.

During the annual Dutch Sinterklaas celebrations, Saint Nicholas arrives by steamboat mid-November, accompanied by a large group of helpers called “Zwarte Piet”, which translates to English as “Black Pete”. 

Since the last few decades, with the influx of immigrants to the Netherlands, Zwarte Piet is felt by some to be racist. Although it is a widely accepted theory that Zwarte Piet has a black face because he climbs down the dirty black chimneys, it is true that some part of the tradition finds its roots in the time in history when Holland still traded in African slaves. 

As it is always just a small fraction of the Dutch population that finds the figure of Zwarte Piet offensive, the discussion whether or not Zwarte Piet might be racist always comes and goes with the steam boat of Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten. However, since the beginning of this year, the United Nations started meddling, by initiating a research by the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to determine if the holiday is indeed racist. 

I must say that I am astonished as well. Because, based on my own point of view (and I am pretty sure I share this view with the vast majority of the Dutch people), having celebrated Sinterklaas every year since I was born, Zwarte Piet isn’t even a ‘black’ person to me. Although he has a black-painted face, I never even thought of him being of negroid descent. Not as a child, not as an adult, not until someone said that Zwarte Piet might be racist and offensive to black people.

The fact that Zwarte Piet's place in the Sinterklaas celebration originates from the time in history when Holland still traded in African slaves, does in no way mean that the persona of Zwarte Piet would ignite racist feelings among the Dutch population during the present day Sinterklaas festivities. On the contrary, to me Zwarte Piet actually has always been one of the most raceless figures imaginable. He is not black, he is not white, not yellow or red, just a positive force. Like a fun, caring and mischievous uncle, compared to Sinterklaas as a strict (although loving) grandpa. This is exactly why I just can’t understand how, if you ever really experienced the Sinterklaas celebrations, you can be offended by Zwarte Piet. In fact, Zwarte Piet can be a very strong way to teach children from an early age that skin colour doesn't matter and that everyone is part of the same community. Sinterklaas is a celebration in which everyone can participate, and it is an ideal way to bring people from all kinds of different backgrounds closer together.

Luckily, I am clearly not the only one who feels this way, because two days ago someone started a ‘Pete-ition’ on Facebook, supporting the role Zwarte Piet plays in the Sinterklaas celebrations, and since then it has become the largest, and fastest growing Dutch-language Facebook page, with over two million likes in just two days. Just as a reference: the Netherlands has a population of 17 million. The counter Facebook page 'Black Pete is racism' has 11,000 likes. 

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with fashion, but I felt so strongly about it that I just had to dedicate a blog post to the issue. The elimination or alteration of Sinterklaas is just not an option for the Dutch population, because it is such a huge part of our culture and our childhood. Imagine that someone from the United Nations told the United States (or Canada, or the UK for that matter) to eliminate Christmas because Santa’s elves discriminate people with dwarfism. If you think that is a ridiculous prospect, or at least that this would be way out of proportion, then you know how I feel at this moment… 

This post is totally not related to Kate, fashion or anything like it, but just watched the video below for the first time and had to share it.

As a 25 year old college student with a part time job at a law firm, I am sometimes terrified by the prospect of the routine, stress and boredom that are to come in the next days, weeks, months and years as I participate in so-called 'adult life'.  That is why I am so glad I came across this speech.  

The speech was given by the late David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005 and it is about taking yourself out of the tempting narrow focus of your own existence and try and change your perpective about your world and the people around you. Normally I am quite skeptical about these things, but trust me: it's a good one!

Like the rest of the world I am captivated by the enigma that is Downton Abbey. And as a self confessed clothing addict and fashion lover, my appreciation for Susanna Buxton (Downton's costume designer) grows with each and every episode. The amount of work that goes into every dress worn by Lady Grantham and the young ladies is just unbelievable, there is just so much eye for detail. 

Thanks to The Great Gatsby and Downton Abbey the 20s are hot and happening right now. And how can you not get inspired by the beautiful fashion of that period? But unfortunately it is not easy to dress in a 'Downton' way without looking like you are going to a fancy dress party. However, you can dress with the same flair as Lady Mary (without an enormous price tag) by incorporating certain Downton elements into your own outfits. Below you will find three outfits worn on Downton Abbey, two by Lady Mary and one by Lady Rose, and their modern day equivalents. 

1. Ivory lace blouse, Dorothy Perkins, $25.00
2. Cameo and faux-pearl earrings, Modcloth, $11.99
3. Green slim fit trousers, H&M, $24.95
4. Nude patent PU-leather Mary Jane pumps, Nine West at Bonton, $59.99
5. Dark green pleated midi skirt, ASOS, $35.60
6. Nude scalloped suede Mary Jane pumps, Loft, $89.50
7. Embroidered mesh top with lace inserts, Free People, $98.00

1. Long royal blue soft scarf with fringe, Karma Loop, $18
2. Crochet cloche hat, Like Freja on Etsy, $35.00
3. Gray skinny jeans, H&M, $19.95
4. Black patent leather Mary Jane pumps, Carvela at John Lewis, £59.00
5. Zig zag print cardigan, Chico's, $49.98
6. Gray woolen texting gloves, Lauren Ralph Lauren at 6pm.com, $24.99

What do you think? Would Carson approve?