Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

#AnneFrank Hatred killed her yet she saw the good in others. She continues to inspire me. https://t.co/vnYGoc1JOC — Nicole M. Verhaaf (@nimavenl) June 12, 2015 Anne Frank would have turned 86 today. Anti-Semitism killed this gifted young writer. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/UYiK7pizGc — Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) June 12, 2015

The UK's Daily Mail writes that actress Lena Headey - who many will know as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones - is expecting a baby girl in about six weeks. On the website of Plan International USA , she  writes a guest blog post entitled " My Daughter " with some very inspiring words for her future daughter. As she's a famous actress known by millions around the world, her words reach a lot of people. They reached me and hopefully, through this post, they'll reach a few more people. "The ever-present abuse of social and human rights in our world keeps me consciously awake, grateful, and humble."  I got to know Lena Headey as Sarah Connor in television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles . She played the mother of John Connor, the young man who will one day lead the human revolution against the machines known as Terminators. Yes - that tough as nails Sarah Connor who stops at nothing to protect her son and with him, the future of humani...

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton Just heard this quote on Criminal Minds and liked it. Feels very true.

Source: DeviantART While browsing the web looking for cute / funny / silly Doctor Who related images, I came across something I'd not seen before. Fish fingers and custard jewellery!  After some very excited fan girl jumping up and down while squealing like a girl (well, not quite due to my heart but close... sort of...) I realised that this was one more for the blog as I simply * have to * share the amazingness!  Source: Etsy The first image from Deviant ART (by way of Google) is a set, which I love. When enjoying the coolness of fish fingers and custard, why not enjoy it in threefold? Also very cool that all three 'bowls' look slightly different.  The second image which is from Etsy (also sourced through Google, of course!) is pretty much the same but slightly different from the earlier three 'bowls' which is why I've included it. I like the silver chain better than the black cord and the third fish finger covered in custard is a cute...

Source: Stuff.co.nz According to an 03 July 2013 article on New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz, Pittsburgh (USA) artist Nickolay Lamm has re-created Barbie in the image of today's 19-year old American woman. New Barbie is shorter and stockier than Original Barbie (as the screencap on the right shows) and has an actual figure - finally! I'd have liked to see New Barbie look more natural than Original Barbie with regards to hair and skin colour, however we can't have everything all at once. New Barbie as created by Mr. Lamm looks natural to me - she looks like women I see on the street and around me, not like one of those plastic fantastic airbrushed types we see in magazines these days. Well done Mr. Lamm and thank you for adding some realism to our lives!

Adorable kitten, playing. Get it! A photo posted by Nicole M. Verhaaf (@nimavenl) on Aug 23, 2012 at 10:38am PDT

Growing up in the age of gaming, I was part of the generation that stayed inside to play their Atari, Game Boy, Nintendo or PlayStation. Dolls, wooden train sets, Barbies, G-I-Joes and ball games were abandoned for action-packed adventure games to be enjoyed from the comfort of one's own bed or couch. No more hiking through the snow to reach a friend or playing ball in the pouring rain - instead we sat down, often with a drink and some crisps, and battled monsters of each and every variety. I remember being extremely proud when I rescued Princess Peach in Super Mario 64 by defeating Bowser not once, not twice, but three times. This achievement is still the only one I can boast about, as over the years I have tried many games, but finished only this one. Photo credit:  Lara Croft Wiki One game I still want to get back to one day is Tomb Raider. I really enjoyed playing the original game when it first came out, even though it really really scared me. Instead ...

Source: WheelTronix While I am by no means a car enthusiast or even a car person , I do love Minis and other small cars. Not the newer models so much, but the older ones I will simply drool over. I used to live in the same street as a guy who did up old Minis. Whether for sport, for fun or for a living I have no idea  -- I never asked. I walked past his Mini standing in the street every day and checked out the developments. New paint job, headlights, front seats, doors - I loved seeing the changes and the new things he'd done that day or that week. After a while the current project would be finished. Everyone admired the shiny, beautiful car and a few weeks later a new project-car would appear. Dented, dusty, rusty and worn - it looked like heaven to my 11 year-old eyes. To this day, every time I walk past a Mini Cooper, a Morris Minor, VW Bug or a Renault 4CV, I stop and stare... And dream of one day owning one, just like I did when I was eleven years old and saw how hap...

Went for a walk with a friend's daughter before the game on Sunday. We were gone for maybe an hour, taking photos of everything orange in the neighbourhood, of flowers and traffic signs, and of all the people dressed in orange. We were dressed in orange as well, singing football-related songs and running around happy as anything. It's been a long time since I spent time with my nephew, and haven't had much to do with children since then. My nephew's only 3, and while my friend's daughter is 9, she's as exuberant and joyful as my nephew is. It's easy to forget how much fun it is to spend time with children and how carefree it makes you. For a change, it doesn't matter what people think of you, it doesn't matter if you're running around acting silly and pulling faces - there's no pressure to behave a certain way or conform to social standards. It makes me wonder why we can't always feel that carefree and be that confident in...