(Im)Perfection

Nieuwpoort, May 2017

No more fear

A very comforting thought for scaredy cats like me, this thing Will Smith (Cypher) said to his son Jade (Kitai) in the (less comforting) movie After Earth (2013):

“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.”

Getaway

The world is going crazy, horrifically crazy. No wonder one would like to escape from reality once in a while, right? To get distracted from all the horror and drama a cultural (surreal) excursion works just fine for me. Like a few weeks ago, when Le Boyfriend and I went to visit Dalí, master of surrealism and modern art. We didn’t even have to take a plane (thank god) as the expo De Salvador à Dalí brings the Spanish artist to (what was once) Brave Little Belgium (Liège). 

Only one-hour drive away from home we were welcomed by Dalí himself in his crazy, hallucinant and, from time to time, psychedelic world. The nicest thing about the expo is the focus on his eclectic personality, on the jack of all trades painter, photographer, movie director and sculptor that also included science, politics and philosophy in his art. Before this expo I already had some Dalí experience, I was especially acquainted with his paintings, sculptures and home designs. (The house in Cadaqués, the museum in Figueres and his colourful designs, that I’d seen a looooong time ago.) The intellect Dalí, however, I didn't recall having met him before. 

As I’ve always loved Dalí’s work (and as the expo has made me love it even more) I decided that we are going to Spain to (re)discover Dali’s land, art and much more of his fascinating, crazy ideas. Or, let’s say to explore his surrealistically extensive and impressive oeuvre. 

P.S. You want to trip like we did? Go to Liège, Gare TGV Guillemins before 31.08.2016 and visit expodali for practical information.

Women on Top

No better "throwback" moment to our Lady Liberty visit than 

International Women's Day.

About 2016

All I want for Christmas and the year to come is a joyful, peaceful world. In other words:

Summer Reading

The first of July is a true beginning of summer time. My plans for the next few (two) months? The pictures speak for themselves I guess.

NYC bookshop vitrine

Last weekend we visited Brussels; a true Mekka for international bookworms. Filigranes (if you want to go French all the way) and Waterstones (for the English lovers) is where I went looking for some good books that ensure joyful reading.

 

Bizarre, I just noticed that the English books are in mirror writing. Why else would the French titles be upside down? Anyhow, you'll need a looking glass if you want to know what journeys I'm about to embark upon.

P.S. Any reading recommendations on your behalf?

Paris Bateau

In Paris, along the Seine and in the Bassin de la Villette colourful (not so petits) bateaux guarantee vivid city views on grey rainy days.

Light vs Blues

Blue Monday My Ass. Voilà, that’s out. My sincere apologies for the dirty language but it’s my aversion to winter talking here. 

Winter Wonderland by night

It has been a few years since the winter blues have hit me this hard. Waking up on weekdays is like hell, making it through the day feels like climbing the Mount Everest (at least I suppose so as I’ve never actually done that) and once I’ve reached the sofa in the evening I simply can not get out of it. But then again there’s light, winter light. We’re not talking about candles in the living room (for once). It is the Antwerp Zoo that has helped brighten up this winter. For six weeks or so Chinese lanterns of all kinds have lit the Zoo: extremely nice, funnily colourful and incredibly enlightening. My personal favourites:

Flower Power or something like that

Butterflies made me feel Spring-like already

Living Room Winter Light

P.S. Any survival tips on your behalf?

Wishful blogging

Good luck, love and finding the key to succes in whatever it is that you do as well as plenty of quality time. 

my jewellery says it all

Maybe I shouldn't have told you this because it's my wish for the year to come. You know one is not supposed to say one's wish out loud because if one does it might never come true. Well ... we'll see about that, right?

P.S. Any special wishes for you this year?

Parties and miracles

Christmas is over, luckily we have some partying left to do. At the moment we’re getting totally ready for a dinner NY’s Eve party with friends - cava is cold, wine is on the table, Le Boyfriend and I have spent hours in the kitchen over the past few days, etc. No need to say that I’ve created that merry tablescape again. 

source: liquorlist                                                  source: notonthehighstreet

Oh and did I already mention this year’s Christmas Miracle? Well … I got the honour to become godmother on the day of Christmas Eve. Guess no one will ever get me a better present than that. (You can read about previous miraculous Christmas events here and here.)

P.S. The best wishes for the year to come. 

An American Dream

Paradox: two weeks in NYC flew by and before we knew we were on the plane back to Belgium. Still, the city trip feels like a never-ending journey. You know, it’s the memories, souvenirs and moreover the pictures that keep our American Dream going.

 

The thing is, creating a photo album is not that easy. Whether you go online and create a digital book that you get printed or you go old-fashioned with “glued” photographs, presenting a holiday (or any other happening for all I know) picture-wise takes time. It all starts “on the spot” (i.e. holiday destination) where you shoot, well let’s say everything and that way end up with like 2000 snapshots of a two-week-holiday (anyhow, that’s me).

 

After homecoming you get to upload the images to your computer. (I am one of those who don’t do analogue anymore, never really did actually. I was born on the edge of the digital era, you know.) Then comes the hardest part: selection time. What images are the best and need “printing”? Dilemma alert because you’ll only know for sure if you made the right choices once you see the “paper” versions. Somehow however you manage to deal with it because a few hours of reflecting upon the picking part later and after having placed your photo-printing order the time is right to create the actual album.

That’s where I am at the moment; searching for the right compositions and combinations of all the NCY experiences and views that we got to enjoy over there last August. I’m glad it takes so long, because – as said a few paragraphs before – it makes the trip a never-ending journey.

P.S. What kind of photographer are you: do you go digital or analogue all the way or do you combine digital (camera) with “glued” pictures and “analogue” albums?

Laughing in style

It might be hard for you to belief when I tell you now that I know the New Year (as in 2015) is going to be a funny and stylish year. Even though we’ve still got four months of 2014 left and autumn/winter still has to begin, I know I’m right. No, it’s not with the help of a fortune teller or any other psychic that I’ve come to this conclusion.

Weekly humorous style tips and funny sketches
will make me smile all year long.

It’s my new agenda, the La Parisienne planner by Ines de La Fressange and Sophie Cachet that did the trick. Flipping the organizer, a time and style guide in one, made it clear: after a royal year with Le Petit Prince (check this post about my 2014 diary) the next will be all about laughter and/in style.

The About-a-bag-bag, picture-wise this time,
filled with NYC essentials and the new diary.

P.S. No need to say yet I’d like to mention that the diary is based on IDLF's style guide, La Parisienne.  

Blog food

What to blog about when it feels like October in August? I had planned some summer blogging about nice skirts and sunny holiday pictures. But with this weather, I don’t know ... Wouldn’t such joyful writing make us long for warmth and sun even more?

Blog food, no matter what: Chocolate. 

So, what to blog about if it’s not about summer? Fall, winter and all things that come with the “dark” seasons? The change of the weather, Halloween, party outfits, Christmas and its decorations? Nah, then there would be nothing left to talk about in the months to come.

Okay, the best blogstuff right now would be: how to get happily through August days that feel like October. Yup, that’s what I would really like to write about. If only I had some useful advice to give.

Pffffff, this leaves me with nothing but the question “what to blog about”, right? As I don’t feel like bothering you too much with this kind of nonsense I’d say: see you soon, maybe (and hopefully) for some inspirational blogging.

P.S. What are your favourite blogreads of the moment?

Devil Eyes

The FIFA World Cup. Four years ago I couldn’t care less. This year, however, I’m totally into the world football championship. How come? An overenthusiastic boyfriend and a feeling of euphoria, ascribable to the Red Devil’s qualification for and participation in the tournament after 12 years. But there's more to it than that.

At the beginning of the contest, about a month ago, I said to myself: why not give it a try, watching football? I realised that with a companion who wants to watch all the FIFA matches opposing to his obsessive behaviour could only harm our relationship. I thus decided to go with the FIFA flow and support “our” team. Putting on devil eyes (i.e. a pair of red or yellow sunglasses), a traditional supporter T-shirt with vintage Red Devil logo and Jaune citron nail polish, that’s my way of encouraging a hell of a football team.

P.S. Are you nervous and curious too about which team will have to go home tonight?

Move made

You know how people say minutes turn into hours, hours into days, days into weeks, weeks into months and so on? It’s kind of what happened to the blog and me; me and not blogging that is. There’s no one to blame for my temporary withdrawal from the blogosphere but “the move” to a new apartment. (Check this out.) To make the “change of house” happen Le Boyfriend and I had to arrange like a trillion things (not including blogging, obviously).

A(n) (p)inspirational "moving" quote has to do it for now 
(no new-home pictures yet).

Anyway, that’s history. I guess it is clear that all moving has been taken care of and that we’re (almost) settled (we even have internet, yay!). To be honest there was nothing much to do except for driving all of our stuff and furniture from the old to the new place and installing it. Okay, one job we had to do (because we wanted to, not because it really needed to be done): whitening the floor in the living room. I hope you can wait a few more days before I reveal the result.

P.S. No need to say that I’ll be back to blog within a month this time.

Flower work party

My job is like perfume. This might sound like crazy but let me explain to you this little theory. 

 

The thing is that at my work people like celebrations. Birthdays, career-anniversaries, logos; they all call for a little (work) party of their own. Last week it was “Secretaries Day" and so my fellow female colleagues and I were "celebrated" with a huge bouquet of flowers. 

The next morning, while getting ready for work, it dawned on me that the company that I work for is, somehow, like my Yves Rocher “Flowerparty” perfume. I guess you see what I mean? Parties and a celebration with flowers at work ...

P.S. Phew, maybe I am actually going crazy: must be the lack of inspiration - and hence the abscence of decent blogging - that makes me come up with the silliest of all theories. 

The sequel

Movies with no ending, I like them. Not the dreary ones that you can hardly watch till the end because of their dullness. I mean the kind that doesn’t really end in the (often not so happy) end, with plots that leave you behind with trillions of questions, that make you wonder what will happen next and that make you long for a sequel. Then again an actual follow-up would ruin the experience of “ignorance” so after all it’s better the moviemakers leave it at that. For days I can keep thinking about such movies by imagining all plausible scenarios. At some point I then decide to stop envisaging how the story really ends because well, I guess it’s simply impossible to find out about what exactly “happened next”.

Directing scene LV Brochure SS 2012 

Last weekend I saw August: Osage County. It must be the ending (including the Kings Of Leon soundtrack) that makes me like the movie so much. By the way, I’m still in the overthinking phase.
P.S. What kind of movie endings do you like best?

An apology

No, the blog is not for sale nor has it been sold. It's just that Elle B. is exploring the world of real estate and this takes some time and energy.

I hope this post will do as an apology for Elle's absence this week. As she will be busy fixing everything for the “big move”, she might leave the blog for what it is in the weeks to come.

P.S. More about this project later on the Elle Basi, I promise.

Dream-real

To a dreamer who's living in a real-life world, life can be hard from time to time.

 

auto colour morning sky vs. 

rose glasses version

P.S. This doesn’t necessarily mean “real” is bad; I actually like the real pic better than the edited view. What do you think?

About hair

Kill your darlings must be one of the most popular tips for reporters to be. When writing for the blog I try to apply this principle (that I learned when I was studying journalism) yet I never know whether or not I manage to. Anyhow, for one of the previous posts I had to do some killing but I’m not sure the right things were put to death. Let me explain myself and let's dig up some dead bodies.

Paradox: Christian Bale at his best (acting) 

and worst (fitness) at the same time 

In A matter of style I focussed on the actresses (Margot Robbie & Amy Adams) and their style yet there’s something to tell about the Hustle men as well. To start with, Christian Bale (Irving Rosenfeld); when he appeared on screen it dawned on me this movie might be the reason why he’s not going to be The Batman anymore. (The six-pack has become a potbelly and the stylish “wave” hair is no more.) A truthful description of his looks (in the movie, by Amy Adams): “He wasn't necessarily in good shape and he had this comb over that was rather elaborate.” The velvet costumes and pilot sunglasses fit his hairdo and the seventies atmosphere perfectly.

Crazy cool hair trick 

Bradley Cooper – aka Richie Dimaso, an ambitious (and desperate) FBI agent - has an elaborate coiffure too. It’s more stylish than Irving’s, probably because he put even more work in fixing the hair. 

You know what's so funny about this all: the movie shows how the characters get their hair in “shape”. So (for the male readers) if you’re balding or want seventies curls: watch (American Hustle) and learn.

P.S. Unfortunately the Hustlers went home with no Oscar last weekend.

SOURCES: 

moviequotesandmore - quote 

daily mail  - pictures