Fun & Famous

Carolien’s Fast Lane Life

Yes, another fresh weekday diary from our Carolien. Because you know: she never sits still…

Name Scandinavian, clothing and store opening in one sentence and I am guaranteed to be there. The main reason for this lies in the far south, when I was still studying in Maastricht. My good friend Chantal had the best clothing store in town and that's how I got to know brands like By Malene Birger, Modström, and Storm & Marie. I even once raced to the store quickly between classes to check out the new collection. You understand: all my student allowance went on the latest winter and summer items: then again a week on rice cakes with peanut butter... Unfortunately, Chantal has stopped with the store, but luckily she now works at the multibrand store Friday that sells nothing but Scandinavian design. And with their store opening in Haarlem last weekend, the count is now a whopping 12 stores across the Netherlands! I'm sorry, Jon, but I simply couldn't leave this opening empty-handed...

Since I returned from Italy with my ‘man’ (I still have to giggle when I say this word), we have literally had zero days or evenings off together... You would think that's a good sign, but we haven't had a moment to catch up or look at the photos from our fairytale weekend together. So when Jon announced that he would be sitting in a hotel all weekend because he has to work for a huge deadline, I felt a bit discouraged. Luckily, I'm not one to be easily caught off guard, so I carefully turned the whole ‘situation’ to my advantage: ‘If you're going to work all weekend in that lovely hotel Central Park by Ron Blaauw, I'll come by in the evenings for a cozy dinner à deux plus a sleepover. An offer you can’t refuse, right?’ It was just that our room had been specially renamed the ‘Karthaus Family Suite’ for the occasion, otherwise the staff would surely think I practiced a whole different profession when I left early in the morning...

By now, it's a regular thing in the Karthaus-Spoor household to schedule a little spa ritual once a week: together in the bath with candles, some cheesy spam music in the background, and a lovely face mask. The only downside: my lovely masks go twice as fast. As a wedding gift, I received a wonderful Hydrating Facial Mask from La Mer and you understand that I kept that one for myself. For the first time, I discovered a mask with the perfect size. Usually, you have too much left over on the sides or the eye holes don't fit well, but this one seemed to be sculpted to my face. After 8 minutes, my skin felt ultra-hydrated, nourished, and restored. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep this secret to myself any longer, because Jon had to and would try one too, with an addictive effect upon seeing his results. That means saving up for such a mask set times two...

Every year in September, Utrecht is all about the Film Festival: all Dutch films, series, and documentaries from the past year get a stage and some are even praised with a coveted Golden Calf. Besides all the beautiful creations on the big screen, all eyes during the opening night are also focused on the creations on the red carpet. Luckily, I have quite a few gala dresses hanging in my closet, like this beautiful pink variant from Adrianna Papell. But during the day and the day after, I was on set for a small role in the series Mees Kees, with beautifully braided hair and that couldn't possibly come out before that evening... So there was nothing else to do but make a huge fashion statement and pretend this was a fully chosen hairstyle. Opinions were quite divided afterwards, so I couldn't resist posting a little Instagram when the braids were out. Note to self: care less what others think!

Last week, Petit Bateau festively opened its doors in Amsterdam-Zuid and that couldn't go by quietly. For seven days, activities were organized such as children's yoga, painting, and... our Pomme Pomme Song! Together with Kiki and Jamie, we sang songs from -how could it be otherwise- Frozen, The Lion King, and Tarzan. But that wasn't all: the kids got to peel an apple in a spectacular way and that was a huge success! Afterwards, I couldn't resist having a little look around in the revamped store and discovered the beautiful collection for adults. These trousers are the perfect combination of a chic pair of pants, but made from jogging fabric. The result: Kiki and I went home as happy as a child with our new, ultimate trousers and of course a deliciously sliced apple.