Amsterdam - A Jam-Packed Long Weekend in One of the World's Most Lively Cities

As Amsterdam was on my 'I'd like to go' Pinterest board we decided to venture to the colourful city to celebrate two birthdays over the long Easter weekend.

Due to our short stay I spent a significant amount of time (too long!) researching into must-see places, the best restaurants and fun activities, and, although I think my friends took some time to get used to my organisation, the planning really paid off.

We wanted a central and funky hotel so chose Hotel V Frederiksplein which had fantastic staff, a great atmosphere and nice rooms. It's right outside taxi and tram stops so, although we often took on the fifteen minute walk into the centre in the mornings, there were a number of transport options which was perfect for us.

Day one saw a quick turnaround of unpacking at the hotel and freshening up before heading out for a five minute walk to the Heineken Museum, something the male members of the party were very excited about doing... I on the other hand, am not a fan of beer so wasn't so keen but it was interesting all the same. The Museum is not a working factory but you get to see the process of brewing, try the raw hops (yuk!) and then, of course, enjoy a few glasses of Heineken after being shown how to drink beer properly!

With food on our minds we walked to Rembrandtplein Square and enjoyed a quick bite to eat in a traditional cafe before heading to Xtra Cold Ice Bar. Going to the Ice Bar was not my choice but, as I'd experienced an ice bar before, I was happy to oblige... now I wish I hadn't! Unfortunately it wasn't quite the experience we'd hoped for - damp ponchos and gloves, salty drinks and rude staff. Thankfully, due to our group, we still had a good time together!

The night was made a million times better when I managed to get us into a 'secret' bar; Door 74. After sending a text and receiving a reply saying we were invited we knocked on a door with no sign and the lovely host peered through the spy-hole to greet us! As we entered there were about 40 people in a long atmospheric room and a bar stocked with every drink you can think of taking up the majority of the space. We were offered a menu full of unique cocktails of varying strengths - I managed one five star caramel cocktail complete with an apple slice and a piece of fudge and I was done. We absolutely loved it in there!

After a comfy sleep, we were up early skipping the hotel's continental breakfast (which was good when we had it) to go to The Pancake Bakery in the Jordaan District. There are a lot of pancake houses in Amsterdam but we opted for this one with a massive range of pancakes from English Pear to Greek Lamb and lots of rustic charm. Despite one member of our party not liking pancakes - these managed to turn him into a fan!

We spent the rest of the day walking around the Jordaan District, through the busy Leidseplein Square to Singel Flower Market which is the world's only floating flower market to admire the beautiful tulips. It's lovely to simply walk around Amsterdam and take in the attractive buildings and canals. I've visited Bruges before and will say I found it prettier than Amsterdam but I think Amsterdam is more fun!

Next up was the night I'd been most looking forward to - dinner at Asian fusion restaurant Momo followed by dancing at the nightclub Jimmy Woo (great name!). Momo did not disappoint, in fact, it surpassed expectations - not only was the food amazing as expected, the drinks, service and atmosphere made it one of my favourite ever dining experiences. We kicked off with cocktails and then decided to go for the tasting menu to share to give us a real taste for the whole menu. Every single course, and there were many of them, was simply perfect. I could have eaten there every night and cannot wait to go back.

Despite not getting back to our hotel until the early hours after a fantastic night at Jimmy Woo, we were up early for a two hour bike tour around the city with SANDEMANs NEW Europe Tours. I'd looked into a number of bike tours but found this one to be the best. Our tour guide Lars was fantastic and made even the most hung-over of us laugh out loud while showing us the city's most interesting sites. Beware... cycling around Amsterdam was a very scary experience! The city contains more bikes than people - they come from every direction! It was a highlight of the trip and I'd say go for it but be prepared.

Our last full day in Amsterdam was spent being proper tourists and visiting Anne Frank's House and the Van Gogh Museum which houses the biggest collection of Van Gogh in the world. Anne Frank's House was very interesting and moving. It was amazing to see the space the family lived in, hear about the history and discover even more about her story. Every time we walked past on previous days the queue was around three hours long so we went early and queued for about half an hour before it opened.

The Van Gogh Museum, although not my cup of tea, is set in Museum Square which is a sight in itself. It was a lovely sunny day and we spent some time eating hot dogs on the grass amongst the famous 'iamsterdam' sign people watching. Another place get your greenery fix is Vondelpark - the largest city park in Amsterdam.

Completing our tourist day we went on an evening canal cruise with the Blue Boat Company which I would recommend over the day cruise. We sat on the back of the boat with glasses of Heineken (of course!) and wine and watched the twinkling city go by. The earlier bike tour enabled us to see the city in the day and this during the night... perfect! 

After our cruise we enjoyed dinner at Restaurant Saray in the very hip De Pijp district. Saray serves the most delicious, traditional, homemade Turkish food - we had what seemed like a banquet and enjoyed every bite. I would have loved to spend longer in De Pijp and visited it by day too... next time!

Amsterdam was an interesting, energetic, unique city and I'd encourage everyone to visit it once in their lives. I'm certainly looking forward to going back soon.

Jane x

Highlights

• The bike tour with fantastic guide Lars
• Momo - for amazing food and a fantastic atmosphere

Must-Dos

• Anne Frank House - no visit would be complete without learning more about the history of Anne and her family
• An evening canal cruise to finish off your stay

It's Been 8 Hours, 29 Minutes and 15 Seconds since the Launch of our New Lifestyle App Countdown Keeper!

*Available to download for free for iPhone today here or search ‘Countdown Keeper’ in the App Store*

We are very excited to let you know that Countdown Keeper, our new lifestyle app is officially available to download from the App Store! At the time of writing this post, we've had more than 1,700 downloads, which we are absolutely overwhelmed with and some lovely reviews too!

Countdown Keeper allows you to collect all your past, present and future events all in one happy place. It is a colourful, stylish, customisable and sharable app that we've spent a year developing!

The app can be used to count down to or count since events and activities such as holidays, birthdays and weddings in a combination of years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds, enabling you to look forward to, or relive happy moments, with useful and unique features. 

You can add images to your events from your camera roll, Facebook album, by taking a photo or by using our specially designed image library. Once you've created your event, you can share it with friends across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to name but a few!

You'll love our app, if, like us, you love being organised! We wanted to create a simple way to keep track of every event, appointment and task in one accessible yet inviting place on-the-go.  We’ll be using the app to keep track of the everyday things too such as exercise classes, work projects and car maintenance. When the event day arrives, the app cleverly changes to count the time since the moment, keeping it forever to relive the happy memories – a colourful, personalised and portable scrapbook of valuable moments.

It was really important to us that we could easily manage these events, so we created the ability to add your own categories to organise your events by month, type of event or whatever makes sense for you. Countdown Keeper is also pre-loaded with categories we love to use to start you off. To help you keep on top of everything you can also add notes to individual events, set alarms for deadlines and easily edit or delete each event on- the-go.

App Features…

• Style your events with full-screen photos and colours
• Count down to your event or since your event in a customised combination of years, months, days, hours, minutes or seconds
• Create custom categories to organise your events
• Add notes or reminders to each event
• Easily edit or delete events
• Style your events with images from your Camera Roll, Facebook or our exclusive Countdown Keeper library
• Create an unlimited number of events
• Set alarms and reminders so you'll never miss a deadline
• Send to your friends through SMS, email
• Share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & more

We hope you love it as much as we do and we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback, or any dream features you would like to be added in our next update – we have a very long list of our own! You can visit the App Store to download Countdown Keeper for free today, and if you like the app, we’d be so grateful if you could leave a review to help others find it too…

To celebrate the release of Countdown Keeper we have collaborated with our favourite British designer, Lorna Syson, to create a unique and exclusive digital background for all users, just head to www.countdownkeeper.com, pop in your email address at the top of the home page and we’ll send it your way!

Get social with us by sharing your countdown keeper events using the hashtag #collectmoments and join us for everyday inspiration on how Countdown Keeper can be used in fun, creative, exciting and helpful ways…

Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and search #collectmoments

For more information about Countdown Keeper including helpful tips and inspiration head to: www.countdownkeeper.com

Katie & Jane x

A Beautiful Mess Photo Challenge Twenty: Take the Black-and-White Photo Challenge

It's true that black and white photos often look better than standard photos (thanks to the filters on Instagram!) so this challenge was very fun.

The book explains how using black and white allows you to focus on both the negative and positive space in photos, in other words, the spaces between subjects and how they are placed in the frame.

I edited a photo I'd taken in Amsterdam of some fresh mint tea...

Editing the photo from standard to black and white changed the feeling of the photo from being very soft and shiny to being more dark and rustic. It's really interesting that a simple colour change edits the whole feel of the image. I'll certainly be using black and white more from now on!

Jane x

Previous Posts...

Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 
Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet
Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details
Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos
Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun
Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light
Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Challenge Seven: Take Macro Photos
Challenge Eight: Understand Depth of Field

Challenge Nine: Make Homemade Filters

Challenge Ten: Photograph a Collection
Challenge Eleven: Take Amazing Photos of Your Home
Challenge Twelve: Capture Your Daily Routines
Challenge Thirteen: Photograph Your Daily Outfits
Challenge Fourteen: Photograph Food

Challenge Fifteen: Photograph Your Reflection

Challenge Sixteen: Take the Thirty-Day Self-Portrait Challenge
Challenge Seventeen: Create a Diptych

Challenge Eighteen: Create a Triptych 

Challenge Nineteen: Focus on Something Unexpected

The Best Things in Life in April

We love interviewing entrepreneurs on our blog so in our monthly 'Best Things in Life' inspired by Red magazine, it's our turn!

Katie

Best Things in Life...

Being inspired by others... this month we interviewed award-winning British designer Lorna Syson and the business advice she received when starting out as an interior designer really struck a chord with me… “Whatever decision you make is the right one; once it is made you will always work towards making it the right one.”

Going to the theatre... during a rainy April I’ll be making the most of the theatres in and around the Midlands. Last month I enjoyed ‘Emma’ at The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham, and I’m still trying to decide on what to see this month!

Being in it to win it… recently we took part in Turkish Airlines #widenyourworld campaign which involved revealing clues and finding a secret location in Birmingham to win a free pair of flights to anywhere in the world. We played twice, came third, then second…and then it ended! We would love to play it again if we still have enough brain power, but in the meantime we can be pleased with our runner up prizes at least!

I've Learned from my Mother...

Apart from being on top of the figures when running your own business (my mum is a book-keeping extraordinaire), she taught me how to have real grit, to never settle for less and to give everything 100%. The most significant thing she told me when I was little was “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars”.

For me, the most exciting Spring trend is... 

The start of a holiday countdown! Getting through the miserable rainy winter and making it through to (ok, it’s still a little rainy) April every year marks the start of holiday fever and all those events, activities and moments you’ve got to look forward to for the rest of the year, you can feel the excitement in the air!

Jane

Best Things in Life...

Discovering a new spot to eat... Chilacas in Birmingham - Mexican street food at its finest! The tiny restaurant has a great atmosphere and fantastic staff, it almost transports you from currently rainy Birmingham to Mexico!

The PopSugar fitness app... I've had this app for a few months now and I love it. With a range of workouts from yoga to cardio in different formats (guides and videos) when I need a quick exercise boost, it's so easy to select a fun workout on my iPad or iPhone.

Hotel Chocolat Easter Chocolates... I was surprised with a gorgeous 'Taste of Spring' box from my favourite Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat. Not only did they taste amazing but they are beautifully designed too!

I've Learned from my Mother... 

How to be independent, strong and successful. I'm proud of my mum's career-focus, happy marriage and outlook on life and I know I'll be happy to follow in her footsteps.

For me, the most exciting Spring trend is... 

Posh dogs! Not some sort of new breed of canine but sausages! In May's Sainsbury's Magazine they list 'posh dogs' as a trend worth trying and I'm excited to be joining the street food activity with our new food project involving hot dogs.

How To Choose a Social Media Agency - Reblogged from She Owns It #katieandjane

The social media industry is a very noisy world, one that can be very overwhelming with the amount of companies offering social media services, from the one-man band LinkedIn expert, and the PR companies with an add-on social media offering, to your giant digital and social media agencies all over the world.

We frequently come across brand teams that either aren’t happy with their social media agencies or have signed up to outsource a social media campaign (paying a hefty fee) without any knowledge of what success looks like. Outsourcing sometimes is the only way to put the resource, energy, ideas and clout behind a brand’s social media activity, and some of the very best social campaigns have been delivered by outstanding agencies. However, brands need to be able to make informed decisions about social media and we’ve put together a few simple questions to ask and thoughts to keep in mind when choosing the best social media agency to work with*.

* Please note we are not a social media ‘agency’ so are here to give impartial advice! 

#1 Do they practice what they preach?

Do they have their own social media channels, and if so do they use them? We’re not talking here about looking up an agency’s Facebook page and judging them on numbers; judge them on their content, their frequency of posts and how they interact with influential users in their industry.

#2 What does their experience look like?

Make sure you take the time look into the campaigns the agency has been an integral part of and ask them what campaigns they’ve noticed recently that they wish they’d been a part of, or could have done better. This will help you to discover what really lies at the core of their work, do they actually care about your brand and building the social media presence that you have in mind?

#3 What objectives are they offering to go alongside any social media work or campaigns?

Any activity is likely to plateau without agreed objectives and metrics in place for both parties. You need to understand what is achievable, and why you are commissioning the activity in the first place. You don’t want a campaign to reach 100,000 competition hunters that will never engage with your brand again, you want to achieve numbers based on long-term engagement with a solid strategy and objectives in place. Have a look at Kindred’s Make Mine Milk campaign to see an example case study and for more info on strategy head to our Social Media Recipe for Success Series or our social media strategy eCourse.

#4 How do they measure activity? What reporting systems for social media exclusively do they use?

In any other area, reporting back on activity allows you to calculate whether that activity is worth reinvesting money, time and resources into. It’s the same with social media, all activity should be evaluated ideally on a monthly basis and each campaign should end with a report on whether or not objectives have been met. It’s a good idea to ask your social media agency what reporting systems they have in place and what they measure. It’s also just as important to read and evaluate the report too, otherwise it will be pointless.

#5 Do they have a crisis plan if activity #fails?

If outsourcing social media activity to an agency, make sure you are all aware of what the plan of action is in advance of a ‘crisis’. If something goes wrong, it’s reflected on your company and can be massive on social. If they are a great agency they will most certainly have had to deal with similar situations as things can’t always go to plan, so make sure you research into how effectively past situations have been resolved.

Reasons to leave the room now…

• They mentioned that you could simply buy fans and followers!
• They called themselves a ‘social media guru’ or a ‘digital evangelist’
• They made no mention of social media engagement and content but instead talked about the number of fans and followers you’ll get with a few posts a week

If you have any questions or tips that have helped when choosing a great agency in the past, please let us know and we’ll do our best to share them.

See us as featured contributors and read this post on She Owns It. Good luck agency hunting!

Katie & Jane x

Lorna Syson: The Award-Winning Designer Talks to us about Inspiration, Being your Own Boss and her Lovely Dog Jenkins!

Lorna Syson is a quirky home accessories brand which is inspired, designed and manufactured in the UK by Lorna herself. Her collections consist of lampshades, cushions, wallpapers and wallflowers all inspired by the British countryside, each with a lovely story to tell. We are huge fans of her designs, especially Songbirds and this year we were proud to have Lorna design her first iPhone background for our new lifestyle app Countdown Keeper. If you would like it for yourself,  just sign up at the website here. Here is Lorna's story... 

What inspired you to start your own business?

As a new designer I sold some of my degree work to a window display designer, this then planted the seed that maybe I could build a living on my designs at some point in the future, but my main aim when graduating was to get a job. I was told I didn’t have enough experience so I decided to keep showing my design work and create my own experience. 6 months down the line I started working with The Prince's Trust and I can honestly say I’ve not looked back. I now have 2 employees and I love my job.

Where do you get the inspiration to create your gorgeous designs from?

I’m inspired by the British countryside and childhood memories of classic British past times. Each of my designs comes with a swing ticket that tells its story. For example the Land’s End pattern originated from a New Year’s Day walk with my family between Land’s End and Sennen Cove, with seabirds wheeling overhead and the sea far below glittering in the winter sunshine, it was the perfect evocation of wild Cornwall.

Looking down from the cliff at the foaming white waves breaking on the dark rocks conjured this image in my mind. Later, walking down into Sennen Cove we came across the old winding house. The thought of generations of lifeboatmen pulling out in open rowboats into a raging sea under darkening skies led me to create this pattern.

What does a typical day at Lorna Syson HQ look like?

It really depends on what day of the week it is. My favourite day is Wednesday when both Gemma and Tiz are in and sometimes an intern too. We start the day with a morning meeting and update each other with what we have achieved from the past week and what we are planning to do. Then the orders from the night before are checked and documented, emails are answered and then we get on with the jobs in hand. At the moment I am reworking the lampshade and wallpaper production which involves factory meetings and sampling. We also have Jenkins my dog in the studio so I get to have a break at lunch time giving him some fresh air. I always try to leave the studio before 7pm.

What has been your biggest challenge to date and how did you overcome it?

I would say keeping constantly motivated can be quite hard, especially when things don’t seem to be going your way. What really helps me is the community I have at my studios in Cockpit Arts, Deptford. There are makers here who have been in the business ranging from six months to over twenty years and it means there is always someone to talk to who has been in a similar predicament to you before. Peer to Peer advice and mentoring has helped me so much since I moved into Cockpits.

If you weren't spreading happiness with songbirds and wallflowers, what would you be doing?

I love taking days off at weekends to head into the countryside or the beach with my fiancé Neil and Jenkins. It’s during these times I find I get most of my inspiration. When you run your own business there isn’t really an 'off' button. I always have to make sure that my phone is to hand so I can photograph an amazing landscape or the deep blues found in late afternoon skies.

And finally, what's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given?

The best piece of business advice was from my Prince's Trust mentor, Peter Dickson, he said "Whatever decision you make is the right decision." He said to me, "Always work on your instincts and don’t look back. Once a decision is made, you will always work towards making it the right one."

Quick Fire Favourites...

Way to unwind?

Spending an evening out with friends

Fitness activity?

Miracle Fitness Bootcampwith Fernando on hilly fields

App?

Hootsuite, great for all social media in one place

Food?

Dim Sum… especially from the chain pingpong

Social media network? 

Pinterest

Designer? 

Golden oldie...Lucianne Day

 Quote?

"Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world."

To find out more about Lorna, her collections and where she will be showcasing her designs next, head to www.lornasyson.co.uk or you can join her & the team on Facebook, Twitter and be inspired by their lovely boards on Pinterest too!

Katie x

A Beautiful Mess Challenge Nineteen: Focus on Something Unexpected

My last photo challenge Create a Triptych was back in November and now Christmas and 2014 is in full swing I've decided to get back to learning to take creative photos with the A Beautiful Mess bloggers Elsie and Emma and their Photo Idea Book.

Challenge Nineteen, Focus on Something Unexpected was actually quite challenging thinking of something interesting to focus on within an already interesting scene! I like the way the girls say in the book 'find the beauty in not taking an obvious photo'. They advise you to take a usual photo then look at the things around the image to find a new focal point...

I actually like the unexpected photo better...

Jane x

Previous Posts...

Introduction to the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book 
Challenge One: Photograph Your Pet
Challenge Two: Capture Unique Personal Details
Challenge Three: Get the Best Cell Phone (or Point and Shoot Camera) Photos
Challenge Four: Know How to Use Overcast Light vs. Direct Sun
Challenge Five: Find Flattering Window Light
Challenge Six: Take a Shadow Portrait

Challenge Seven: Take Macro Photos
Challenge Eight: Understand Depth of Field

Challenge Nine: Make Homemade Filters

Challenge Ten: Photograph a Collection
Challenge Eleven: Take Amazing Photos of Your Home
Challenge Twelve: Capture Your Daily Routines
Challenge Thirteen: Photograph Your Daily Outfits
Challenge Fourteen: Photograph Food

Challenge Fifteen: Photograph Your Reflection

Challenge Sixteen: Take the Thirty-Day Self-Portrait Challenge
Challenge Seventeen: Create a Diptych

Challenge Eighteen: Create a Triptych