Leave me out with the waste, this is not what I do

Eeeeek - the silly season has finally hit me! Had a chat with Kelly Chan a few weeks ago, and she commented that there is a chronic lack of the 'silly season' here, but she has decided to take the initiative and create her own version, and now I have decided to jump aboard! Firstly, with arranging a group of colleagues to go to see the scissor sisters... When I first started working, it was rather unheard of to associate with colleagues outside of work, so I am proud of introducing at least something to that environment. However, I am still waiting for the web to authorise bookings... so I am a little nervous that it will be sold out before I manage to book our outing! Oh well - maybe something else.

For the first time this year, I had to scrape ice off the car this morning. It's funny - I went to work, and commented that it must have frozen last night (hence the reason for ice) and I was surprised at the amount of people who told me that it didn't. So somewhere along the line, water decided to start freezing at temperatures above zero. Funny - all that learning in school didn't teach me that the rules change depending on who you talk to (ooooh - sarcastic bitch, aren't I?). But, after around 5 minutes of scraping, Gust managed to put-put all the way to work withough hassle. He only coughed a little before starting, so I am proud of him.

Have also received some photos from my family this week - Emme just graduated, so I am so proud (not to mention wildly jealous) of her. Plus, my mum has trimmed down a bit, going to the gym regularly, and somehow managed to un-age! Good going family. Oh, and there's dad too! Still managing to look great! So, since I am in a silly mood - here's a dedication to my wonderful family, who have to put up with so much from me! xxx

All the freaky people make the beauty of the world

Last night, was our first concert this week... and we saw Michael Franti with Spearhead. (We are going to Muse on Tuesday night, but there will be another installment after that).

It was one of the nicest concerts I have seen. In my favourite hall in Belgium (Ancienne Belgique) which holds around 2000 people (unlike when we saw Robbie Williams - that one holds a good 20,000 or more...) so it was nice and cozy. He is such an inspirational peace-maker and his music oozes positivity. You can't help but smile and dance along - even to the numbers which haven't been released yet. And he played non-stop for 2,5 hours, and I didnt realise it until it was over.

So, we went with Maarten (Tom's travelling-to-Australia partner) and Maarten's brother Jurgen (another Flemish name I have troubles pronouncing). After the concert, we decided to take a little stroll to the Grande Plaza of Brussels, considering the effort they put into everything at chrismas time, and it was quite lovely (despite being packed with people at midnight...)

Later, Maarten was due to pick up Bie (his girlfriend) from her work christmas party, so we drove off to one of the classiest hotels in Brussels (in our jeans and warm coats) and arrived at her party, which just happened to have a glamour hollywood theme. So, we kinda stood out a little, but lucky for us, it was already way past midnight, and most of her colleagues (and herself included) were past the proverbial point of no return, and welcomed us with open arms! It was a little odd at first, but after we noticed the free wine, we were quickly in spirit. I also managed to stumble across a relatively still full dessert bar, so after 2 chocolate mousse's, and 3 wines, we were also quickly in the spirit. Pity the DJ was someone who clearly went to Yeppoon High in the early 90s. I swear that was the last time I heard 'Cotton Eyed Joe' and a dancing function. And he spat out all of the wrong numbers, and I clearly wasn't drunk enough to appreciate the humour. But, we boogied our bums off for an hour or so, before heading home.

So it was overall a night which we had not expected, but definitely enjoyed!!


Tom, Jurgen, Bie and Maarten

The Before Shots...

Since there is something in the water over here, I have decided to post a picture of the first of my 4 friends who are due to give birth in the next few months...This is one of my best friends, Stefanie. She started working at histogenex, and within 2 months, she fell pregnant. We went shopping yesterday, and at the end of the day, she had some glamour photos taken of her naked belly. As you can see, I am no match, plus, I didnt want to post photos of her boobies on the internet - so here are some before shots of her 9 month pregnant belly. Unfortunately, she is due when I am in Scotland - so I was hoping for an early baby. But, the gynae is convinced that it will be on time, or even late...

more pikkies

For some other pictures from my weekend...

click here

The Birthday Girls

Since I haven't updated the blog for a while, thought I should mention how life has been since the 26th milestone was reached... Firstly, I had a wonderful reception at work! Everyone gave me kisses (yes, we are a touchy bunch here....) and I received many lovely gifts - quite a meevaller (in dutch - cant quite translate it) and lots of emails too. I went into the day with a feeling of melancholy, but was so nicely surprised - and the day finished with a lovely meal at a biological produce restaurant that I lurve in Antwerp. Since then however... it hasnt stopped raining, and the weather has FINALLY reached minus temperatures (I know that must sound crazy to be actually requesting sub zero temps, but I really want snow!).



But, the highlight of my week would have be have been this weekend. After sooooo many years, I finally caught up with Kelly Chan again. For those of you who dont know, we grew up, playing the violin together in Yeppoon (our teacher was a lovely nun), and then she moved to brisbane, and not long after I moved to Brisbane, we teamed up again with 2 other girls and played in a string quartet (she actually lived 3 houses away from where I lived...) Now, she lives in Nijmegen (border of Holland and Germany - 1,5 - 2 hours away from Antwerp) and we have re-found eachother again! Such a refreshing surprise! So, she had a girly night (with 8 girls) for her birthday, and we ate some delicious Thai food, watched a really cheesy girly movie, gave ourselves face masks, cleared our pores with those sticky things that look like we had nose jobs and did our nails in french manicures while stuffing ourselves stupid on cake. mmmmm. And then when we went to bed, Kelly and I chatted from 1am until 4am! I truly felt like I was in highschool again! I can't remember the last time I lay in bed chatting (to a girl) for 3hours! So, I am now on a bit of a high, because we could compare our notes on living in the 'benelux' for the past few years, and also compare our dutch accents!

Blood Sugar Baby, She's crazy....

Today, I decided to be a good little housewifey, and make some soups for the winter... Have already experienced zucchini and watercress soup (very refreshing) and tomato and scampi (shrimpy prawny things) soup. So, today at Tom's request, decided for a creamy tomato soup (to be followed by a mushroom soup). Being the adventurer I am (erhem), I found a recipe on the internet for a creamy tomato soup 'with bite'. So I trundled Gust off to the supermarket, bought all necessary ingredients - including about 50 hot chillies (because apparently, you cant just buy one) and putted back home again. Managed to chop up 1 kg of tomatoes, and blend them without a hitch, but then came chilly time. I have learnt from experience that the seed is the strongest part of the chilly, so I carefully carved these little mongrels out, and chopped the chilly finely. Somewhere along the line, between adding the chilly to the tomato and having an itch which wouldn't go away, I though I would just scratch my moustache region (for want of an anatomically correct name...)

BAAAAAAD move. First it was a little irritated, then shortly later, the pain was incredible! I thought, okay you idiot, just get some ice out of the freezer and put it on the area. Well the ice melted in about 10 seconds (yes, it is winter here as well...) so that plan didn't work. I then washed my hands for about 2 minutes, to make sure there was no residual pain causing chilly hidden in an invisible crevass or in the grooves of my fingerprints. By this stage, the pain was almost unbearable, and I started crying. Next resort - call mum. So, at 11pm, hoping my old rocking parents would be still partying, I decided to give them a bell. Seems that Saturday nights, are now for the bed only, because I woke poor mum up (dad must have had enough red to keep him snoring through), and she didnt know what to do. Next... try Emme. No answer either. BUGGER! What the hell do you do?? So, as my absolute last resort, I googled 'hot chilly burn pain' and was given a remedy!

So for any of you who are as clever as me, if you ever burn yourself on hot chilly, wash the region thoroughly with soapy water, then rub vegetable oil into the 'wound'. But, if like me you don't have vegetable oil, olive oil (extra virgin) also seems to work quite well. Now, I have lovely red Angelina Jolie lips (and they are shiny too...)