Something #13

I hope you had a good day today... Tell me about your holiday!

I opened some presents this morning. I got a necklace, a scarf, chocolate truffles, oil and vinegar, a digital picture frame with pics of the fam and..

A trip to Paris!

Although that's not all, since I was opening all of these packages, I thought it quite fitting to keep going, so I thought I would open a little something.

But first, a pic of the remaining little somethings... There are still quite a few.

So which one should I pick today?

Ultimately I decided to go with the one with the prettiest paper. It's red. white, blue and green and very Christmas-y.

I can already imagine the cranes I will make with this one.

Oooh! I will make two pretty cranes!

A nice flat package.

What's this?

Who?

What?

When?

Where did you get this?

Why?

It's lovely as it is. As soon as I return for my trip, I am hoping to place it in a frame with a black mat, kind of like this photo here. What do you think?

M e R r Y c H r I s T m A s !

~xoxo

LYMI

Thank you Internet!!!

La loca:

Congratulations on Crystal City 1969!

Avatar

I just saw this movie in 3D here in Leuven.

It was A M A Z I N G ! ! !

Absolutely stunning!

This is the future of movies. I am curious to know what you think.

Yes, it has been snowing here, it's so beautiful. Jon has the camera cord, otherwise I would post photos. Soon. I promise.

I think we are going to a country that rhymes with:

romance

and

dance

for Christmas.

Yay!

Jon is the best!

Something #12

Last Friday, I pulled a little something off the shelf as I walked out the door. This day was going to be tough, Maggie was breaking her big cancer news to her class.

By the way, I snapped this shot for you of the center of Leuven. You had asked if it was getting Christmas-y here.

To which I say, yes, it is!

This is the little something I pulled. I like the sun.

Actually, I LOVE the sun. I miss the sun. It's been a dark time here, just a little rough with the constant gray clouds and also the situation in the classroom. Maggie is preparing to leave, and I ache for her. I am so sensitive, I can identify what she is going through to a degree and feel like there is nothing I can do. And there is impending change... I feel that I don't do well with change. (Even though I should be an expert at it by now.)

I waited until the end of the day to open this little something, because Jon and I were going to the Christmas Market in Brussels, and also... it was FRIDAY!

But first, a few shots as I walked to the gare (train station) in Waterloo.

I stopped in a chocolate shop and who should appear?

SINTERKLAAS!!!

And the sun came out!!!

Albeit for a minute, but STILL!!

I hopped on a train and went to Brussels to wait for Jon. We had a date and I was really excited. We planned to meet in a brasserie in Grand Place. I told him about my day and then pulled out the little something.

I asked him to take pictures while I opened #12, but he mistook that for, "open #12." So in this picture you actually see Jon's hands opening it up...

Tropics on the brain...

Yes indeed. I keep thinking about a certain sun...

"Whoa!"

Which cracked me up, I think he thought it was a nude photo.

But it was a thoughtful, sweet photo of you looking out across the ocean in Jamaica. I turned the photo over and read the note:

My co-worker Bethany and I planned this trip while working over a weekend on Raising Helen. They were repaving the road outside the editing rooms, BUT the editor INSISTED we work through. SO, Disney put up thick insulation over the windows and we worked all weekend in extra dark rooms with the low rumble of jackhammers outside. It was so ridiculous and unnecessary to work through the construction - all we could do was book a trip to the Caribbean! Ha ha!

I have several pictures from Mexico, and Something #12 prompted me to look through them all, which may explain the delay of this post.

You see, there are good parts and bad to that time in Mexico. Sometimes it is difficult to look at the past, but here is the good news: my finger has become friends with the delete button and I am not feeling guilt or pain as I select and edit. It's quite cathartic.

I think that there is a lot of editing and deleting that I need to do in my life.

I'm sure you've heard the quote, "time the great healer."

While it's always nice to put distance between events and people in life, it's a false comfort if you have not bid adieu to the situation. I am finding in these dark days in Belgium and as the first decade of the new millennium comes to a close that I have not really kissed a lot of these events and people properly good-bye.

That is a hard thing to admit.

I love this photo:
This is from my 32nd birthday that I spent all alone in Mexico, and was one of the best days in my life. That is a little dock about 20 yards from the shore. Isn't that so romantic? That day I wished someone was with me... to take a picture while I sunbathed by myself! Haha! No, seriously, I wished for what I have now.

This was my daily indulgence:
This was the show every night around the corner from my little studio apartment. I am glad that I took advantage of that time every night that I could.

Ok, back to reality. Back to Belgium, back to Brussels.

Here we are at the Christmas Market. Did you check out the post on my blog?

Jon took these photos. You should check out his Flickr page...

One more photo from that night that I wanted to share:
This is an installation from French photographer Thierry Bouët. It's from his series The First Hour where he took 50 portraits of babies in Paris the first hour that they were born. Check it out on the web, there are photos of babies everywhere if you google his name.

By the way, I do want to see those photographs.

Thanks for your patience, I hope you get a golden ticket because I would love for you to come visit.

xoxo

LYMI

Something #12

I had meant to get to this earlier, but it's already past midnight. I will post more tomorrow.

Goodnight and Happy Sinterklaas!

xoxo

LYMI

Full Moon Over the Red Light District

On the way home last night.

North BLX.

Something #11 LMAO!

LMAO! I really detest acronyms like that, and LYMI for sure, but this little something had me laughing on a day when I really needed it.

I arrived in Waterloo ready to ride and take on the day, only to discover that my bike had been "tagged" with red permanent marker (no photo, sorry) AND I had a flat tire. Do you think these two incidents are related?

I walked my bike unsuccessfully through town only to discover that the air valve will not fit the valve on the air pump at the Auto Shop. (I am not even sure I am using the correct terminology.) AND I do not speak a lick of French! This all made for an interesting morning.

Also, school is kind of a bummer these days. The teacher I work with has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She hasn't told the kids yet and she will have surgery two weeks from today. She is young, kind, a wife and mother. She is going through so much emotionally. We talk during the day and I've shared my experience with her, but she will soon find out for herself and have her own experiences.

When I talk with her, it all comes back to me and I wince at times from my memories of -

the sores in my mouth
the weakness
the aches
the nausea
the 30+ pounds I gained from the steroids

the two years it took to loose them

the chemical burns on my skin

the constipation
the hair loss

my cold head against the pillow
the fear
the constant tiredness
the exhaustion of people telling you everything will be ok over and over because it makes them feel better.

But I do hope everything is going to be ok...

Jon had a late night tonight, and I went to the International Short Film Festival in Leuven.

I wish you could have been here with me, but tonight's selection was so morbid and melancholy. The best short I saw was Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier.
Did you know it's a prologue to The Darjeeling Limited? Another film I saw out of the US, in Mexico...

I also saw this short:

I was a little depressed as I walked home tonight, not to mention I was FREEZING!

Thankfully, I had this at home to make me laugh:

Oh Steph! What did you do to this poor child?!

Just look at those cheeks!

I'm still cracking up...

xoxo

~LYMI