Something #15

I have delayed on opening this something for a few reasons.

1. I am running out of somethings!

Look! Only 7 left! :-(

2. Things are pretty good here! I mean, my life is not perfect, but I am pretty pleased with the way things are going. Even if they are not going, life kind of gets stuck in a rut sometimes...

wash

wear

repeat

etc.

Life is good.

I get to stay in Belgium, can leave the country and now come back in! Jon is deep in research and his thesis. I am try to respect his study time and it's pretty quiet around our place in the evenings. We've been eating vegetarian and feeling great as a result. We still eat meat, I just haven't prepared it at home since the new year. The sun is starting to set later, and there is still light after 6 p.m. That makes such a huge impact on things. Spring is coming!!!! Really... it's the little things.

3. I've been very sick for over a week. I missed a few days from work last week and spent the weekend on the couch - so I was not one for productivity or conversation/blogversation.

I think I've been saving them also, afraid to run out.

I like the color of the envelope I selected. I pick it up, feel it... Not sure what's inside, but I especially like the drawing.

The drawing is the main reason I chose this something, because of the raft and the blue flag with my initial.

It's my boat! Where am I going? When I was in college I worked on a series of slab constructed canoes for ceramics class. They all had different textures and glazes on them. I had a pretty good body of work going for me at the time. I would like to get back into it some day. (sigh) Boats are my thing. I like the symbolism - cast your cares to the sea and set yourself adrift. Sometimes we encounter rough seas on our voyage, other times it's smooth sailing.

Anyway, let's open this baby up...

Can you read that?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. "

Mark Twain

I love this quote.

When I stop and think about things right now, I can honestly say that I have no regrets for the life I am living.

I intend to travel more. I am sad realizing my days here are on the decline. I still have time, but fewer than 180 days.

We are going to Binche, Belgium next Saturday to experience Belgium Carnival and hope to get pelted by oranges. I leave for Amsterdam on Tuesday, and I hope to get to Paris again next month. I love Paris.

When are you going to come see me?

xoxo

~LYMI

Something #14

It was my birthday yesterday. I had been waiting on opening up a little something for a week and a half. I knew which something I wanted to pick out. It was the large one, that is kind of flat, but looks fun because it has pink polka dots on it!

You know it?

It was kind of thick, but flat. I could squeeze it, and it would spring back to form.

It had practically opened itself. I think the radiators have something to do with that.

Ah!

Awesome!

What great inspiration to get me to the fabric store!

I have been dreaming a lot of fashion. There are so many cute simple things here, but I can't bring myself to buy anything because I am set on not spending extra money. I am saving my money to travel, but when I land back in the US, you bet I will be sewing up a storm. I've got a sketchbook full of ideas and I'm excited about that.

But who knows, I may give sewing a try here... Someone I know has to have a machine, right?

I do love the paper. I've seen lots of cool projects using old pattern paper, but I can't bring myself to tear it/cut it up.

I had a great birthday, and it was great to talk to you!

xoxo

~LYMI

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