Hello! I am Marlies (pictured above in the desert in the United Arab Emirates) and this is my blog about things I enjoy in life: crafting, primarily knitting and sewing, drinking a lot of coffee, traveling, as well as spending time with my furry babies, Hattori and Hanzō.
I am a political scientist and human rights expert by training, but enjoy much more creative endeavors in my free time (of course one could argue that some contemporary politicians are quite “creative”). My grandmother taught me how to knit when I was quite small, probably 6 or 7 years old, but I didn’t start knitting obsessively until I was a PhD student and was suffering from burn out six years ago. Even though I now have a stressful job, I still try to craft as much as possible. I don’t only knit, but also sew, spin, crochet, as well as dye yarn occasionally.
My other passion is drinking coffee. Even though I often feel like I need a caffeine infusion during my workday, drinking coffee is more pleasure than necessity for me, most days at least. My mantra is “life is too short for bad coffee”, but I only started appreciating good coffee in the past few years. I still remember my Italian colleague at the UN (we were both interns there) making fun of me for drinking lattes instead of “proper” coffee. She would often call me in the afternoon and ask me if I wanted to get coffee. We would meet up at the café near the conference rooms and whenever I ordered my usual latte, she would always say “I thought we were going to get coffee.” Five years later, I now drink my coffee without milk, and love my Chemex, my Aeropress, and my Dripster. I know this blog is called double catspresso even though I prefer filter coffee to espresso, which I still drink often because it is my husband’s caffeinated beverage of choice, but would you read a blog called filtered cats?
Last, but not least, traveling is probably my biggest passion. If I don’t travel for a long time (which for me is a few months), I get quite restless and long for adventure. I have been incredibly lucky in my twenties (which are coming to an end soon… shock, horror!), having had the opportunity to travel to all continents but Antarctica with the most important people in my life. The thought of going on vacation and exploring the world with my husband is what keeps me sane in my stressful job. My father and I regularly take adventurous trips, and it my 93-year-old grandmother’s fountain of youth to travel with my mother and me several long weekends a year.
I am extremely excited being able to share my adventures — at home and abroad –with you on this blog. I hope you enjoy reading my posts at least as much as I enjoy writing them.