Saturday and Sunday 29 and 30 May 2010: A weekend at Face The Day with Heidi and Sarah and The Lool and a makeover!

Sarah says:

Above and below you can see Heidi and me today, Sunday the 30th of May. We ran in to each other at the Vetex at ole pistole, which is a yearly breakfast the local chiro organizes for the neighborhood. Last night there was camping at the Vetex as well and my kid with three others kept everyone up all night by talking and talking and talking. Everyone is tired now and my kid feels guilty and is moping around. It's just going to be one of those Sundays I'm afraid!

That's Ayla above yesterday the 29th at her school's open-door day. She put on a dance show, which I'll post here later as a video. She's a natural! She's a star!
Yesterday I had my yearly birthday facial. Above you can see me before the facial.
And there above is me right after the lovely facial and massage...
And there above is me after the facial and after I put my face on!
Last but not least, there's my Post Secret pick of the week. I'm always winging it, even though it seems I have everything well planned out. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing half the time! That's life! We're all in the same boat. Some are just better actors than others I suppose...

Friday 28 May 2010: Sarah is starting to show her age and Heidi is looking perky! :-)

Sarah says:
Not that it really bothers me or anything but I do see my age in the above photo - or at least that I am starting to show my age more - starting to age - to look my age! I will be 39 next week! Almost 40! I have always felt like my face looked younger than I actually am. Not in the above photo. Maybe not anymore. I guess that just happens one day. Maybe today is that day.

Heidi on the other hand is looking all perky! Actually - I think I look pretty and perky too - just wanted to point that out in case it seems like I am complaining about looking my age. It doesn't trouble me. It just fascinates me to see it happening. It might eventually trouble me! Who knows!

Wednesday 26 May 2010: Sarah is busy working these days and The LOOL is too! Check out her latest fashion designs!

Sarah says:
Busy at work these days and enjoying it. That's my office above by the way with my boss in the distance. We are good busy. Feels good to work hard and get stuff done. I am enjoying the mix of things I'm doing! As long as my back pain stays away, all will be well! I can't believe I will be 39 in less than a week! Ahhhh!

Check out this link to see Ayla's latest creations! She's amazing! Today we got a letter in the mail for her saying that she was recommended by teachers and her school's director to be nominated for a prize for her civic-mindedness and good deeds and work at school! We are invited to an awards ceremony and everything! She was so surprised and proud. We aren't surprised at all but we sure are proud! The Lool!!!!

So make sure to check out her designs!!

Saturday - Sunday - Monday 22-25 May 2010: Sinksen and ASG in Kortrijk = fun weekend!

Sarah says:

Below you'll see photos from Sinksen 10 in Kortrijk this past weekend. We sold about Euro 200 worth of stuff at the street fair! Heidi and Nico were DJs for Radio Modern, where there was a lot of great music and nice dancing! And Aimee came to visit all weekend! It was so great to see here! I miss her so! She got to meet Merlijn the Owl too, which was fun!

That's me and Tom above of course - yesterday on Monday the 24th of May, which is Erika's birthday! Happy Birthday E-Rocker! And that dress I am wearing - Euro 2 at the street fair!

By the way, there are more photos than just the ones you see below. You can see the rest via this link!

Heidi and Wout above showing us their moves...

Wout and Katrijn on the dance floor!

Heidi and Wout at it again!

Heidi and Nico turning the tunes...

Katrijn and Wout showing off their steps...

Heidi and Nico adding the sphere...

Heidi, ASG and I Facing The Day together on Monday the 24th of May!

Above and below from Sunday the 23rd of May at the street fair with Aimee and earlier below with Heidi Facing the Day!

Tilly and I below getting silly with old junk at the street fair!

Above and below photos are from Saturday the 22nd of May at Merlijn's home with ASG and The Lool with the owl and a buzzard!

Lunch time!

Merlijn, The Lool, ASG and me (in glasses)...

And via this link, you can see the rest of the owl, buzzard, python photos added to the full owl album!

Friday 21 May 2010: Sarah and family meet up with the St Jan's Oehoe Eagle Owl yet again! What a beautiful beast!

Sarah says:

Tom got back from a week vacation in Bulgaria and after some food shopping we went to the oehoe wake around the St Jan's church. Merlijn, himself, was there in all his beautiful glory and we all got to hold on to him and see him up close. He's fantastically mesmerizing.

Below are some photos. Via this link, you can check out a whole lot more.

Today, my good friend Aimee is coming for the weekend. I am so excited to see her. It's been too long! And it is the big Sinksen feast weekend in K-Town so I just know it will be fun. AND - it will be warm and sunny all weekend! AND!!!! It's a long weekend with no work on Monday!

Thursday 20 May 2010: A sunny day at FTD!

Sarah says:
Nothing to report other than I only just realized that the article I mentioned yesterday made the front page! That makes me happy! It's been so long since I had an article published - end then to see it on the front - well, that feels pretty good and encouraging!

http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/e-dentity-crisis

My husband comes home from Bulgaria tomorrow! Can't wait to see him.

That's pretty much it for today.

Tuesday and Wednesday the 18th and 19th of May 2010: Heidi is back on Face The Day - at least for this one spectacular moment!!!

Sarah says:

Without Heidi here on Face The Day everyday, I'm getting bored of this blog because it was never supposed to just be about me and my dumb head! So you can imagine how excited I am that I got to take the above photo of me and Heidi today and post it on here. It has really been way too long! So long - that I have been thinking about stopping Face The Day or at least changing it or limiting it to a once a month photo posting - such as flashback first of the month or something. Anyway - seeing Heidi today and actually having my camera with me (I have been forgetting it lately believe it or not after all these years!!) - has inspired me again. Maybe there is some life left in FTD. Time will tell.

More importantly - Heidi and I were pretty happy with the above photo actually because it has the feel of 4 years ago when we still had it in us to take creative photos. I guess as the years went on here on Face The Day - we couldn't always come up with new photo positions or looks. In the above photo, we look like rock stars! :-)

Yeah yeah! I know. Same shirt on as in above photo and it's from a different day - the 18th of May! This is Belgium you know! It is okay to wear the same clothes all week if you want to! Nobody really cares! So if I have that same shirt on tomorrow too - oh well! Less wash to do!

And the above photo also makes me happy because as I don't see Heidi everyday anymore, I don't get to see her kids a lot and I haven't seen Matto for a while it seems. So here he is, the adorable Matto as a guest rock star on Face The Day! He looks like Heidi, don't you think?

In other news, I am happy to say that an article I wrote was published in the weekly newspaper here in Flanders called Flanders Today. I have written some articles over the last few years for work but this is the first one that I have had published. It feels great to be back in the world of journalism a bit - by writing again and by teaching journalism students. I feel lucky! There has always been a journalist in me and I basically gave up all of it when I moved to Belgium. My career dreams as a journalist died here and I went on to other jobs. It's nice to go back to my roots and passion. Via this link, you can get to my article.

By the way, today would have been Peter De Wilde's 38th birthday. I can't help but think of him today and each year at this time - and also each November - the month he died after a rough battle with horrid cancer. I'm glad I have some videos, such as this one, and music such as this, to keep him close in my memory. I loved singing with him. I miss him everyday still. I'm thinking of his family today too and lately. Life has gone on for them thankfully, but it's not always easy.

Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May 2010: Sarah has a nice day in Brugge shopping and a lazy day at home with the kid!

Sarah says:

That's me above with The Lool in the distance on her Nintendo game of course. She's just loving that little ultra-high-tech gadget. It's even a mobile devise that works with wifi and can send mobile messages. She just uses it for games - crazy high-tech ones. She's going to soon know a lot more about technology than I do. She's a "screenager" for sure. She's sleeping with me this week while Tom is on vacation in Bulgaria and I woke up this morning to her little face glowing in the light of her Nintendo screen in the dark room. Today's kids are oddballs.

The above pretty photo of wisteria and gable roofing is from my visit to Brugge yesterday, where I went shopping with a friend and kids. It was a lovely day. I forgot to take a photo of myself so you get the only photo I took Saturday instead - and it's a lot nicer to look at than my face is! Maybe I should change Facebook to be about a photo a day - sometimes of me - but more often of other people and things. I'm going to think about that. I am a little sick of my face on here without Heidi. It's just not the same since she's gone! It's time for a Face The Day makeover! That brings me to my above Post Secret pick of the week. Ever since all those makeover shows have become so popular, it's hard not to imagine Trinny and Susanna around the corner pointing out what needs changing on each passer-by! It's actually fun to imagine how you can improve a person but it's also pretty rude. We live in an oddball world thanks to reality TV and all. No wonder kids are oddballs these days.

Thursday and Friday 13and 14 May 2010: Sarah has been so busy she's not been taking photos for FTD! Whoops! But - plenty of other pics to show...

Sarah says:
Just for the sake of catching up, above is a photo from Friday the 14th of May and below is one from Thursday the 13th of May. In both photos I am so tired because each day - and so many days and times this week - I was driving to the airport very early to pick someone up or drop someone off. It's been a fantastic week though - full of a great Multi-Mania 2010 conference. Our sidetrack on Entrepreneurship went really well and lots of new networks and connections were made. It was fun and it felt great to be part of it.

On Friday, Tom left for Bulgaria for a one week vacation. I'm happy for him as it will do him good to get away with a good friend. And I get some quiet time alone with my kid. I need that and she needs that. It's been a crazy week as I said and it's good to unwind now and come down from the high of it all.

Have I mentioned that I wrote an article last week for the English weekly newspaper of Belgium? It's all about social media. I am so happy to be writing again but I was crazy to plan a deadline for the article the same day as the conference. It meant staying up till about 4 am every morning writing or editing after speakers' dinners, etc... But with that said, I have to add that I was energized this week and felt like super woman!


I forgot to take photo of myself everyday. But instead, I have a whole load of photos from various happenings in the last couple of weeks including the end of the owl story (great photos up close of the owl), Ayla's birthday party with her friends (the great food creations they made) and photos from Multi-Mania (all our guest speakers).

Here are photos from the Oehoe Eagle Owl saga. In the end he was caught and we got to see him up close and even hold him. There are some great photos via this link!

Here are before and after shots from Ayla's birthday party with friends, where they received lots of food stuff and had to make creations with it that the parents could eat later. They made fabulous things. Check it out via this link!

And last but not least, photos from Multi-Mania - and our Entrepreneurship Forum, which I organized. It was a great day - a great few days. Made some nice new contacts and networks. Also had some nice days showing off Belgium to our guests. Via this link you can see photos.

Thursday and Friday 07 and 08 May 2010: Heidi and Sarah meet again along with a very special Face The Day Guest: Merlijn the Oehoe's girlfriend!

Sarah says:
Let me introduce to you above the girlfriend of Merlijn, the St Jan's Oehoe Eagle Owl! Last night, she came to the Oehoe Bar we threw in our neighborhood in honor of Merlijn, who after escaping from a cage a few weeks ago, has been enchanting our neighborhood each and every day. One of these days he will no doubt return to his owner. But for now - he belongs to the neighborhood and he's changed the neighborhood by bringing people together. It's been super!

Here's a link to a whole photo album tracking his movements for the last few days...


Heidi and I finally had the chance to get a photo together for Face The Day and with no other than Merlijn's girlfriend! It was a fun photo to try to capture and it was cool to see Heidi again. It always feels like it has been so long now that we don't work together anymore!

Another phot of the owl above - also from the 7th of May at the Oehoe Bar.

And there above a photo from Thursday the 6th of May at the neighborhood meeting to plan the Oehoe Bar. The fact is, until that Oehoe came into all of our lives, I didn't know anyone from the other side of the church... How great is it that now so many of us are in contact! Makes me so happy so see people come together like that - and all because of an owl no less!

Here's a link to the Facebook page of Merlijn the Oehoe Owl. I think it is an open page. Check it out!

Tuesday 04 May 2010: HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY TO MY KID!!!!!!!!

Sarah says:
I HAVE AN 11 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!!!!!!

Happy birthday!!! There above you can see her a year ago today at age 10 on 04 May 2009!

In the above photo you can see her two years ago today at age 9 on 04 May 2008!

Above you can see her three years ago today on her 8th birthday on 04 May 2007!

The photo above shows her four years ago on her 7th birthday on 04 May 2006!

And there below you can see a photo from yesterday the 3rd of May 2010. You see me waiting for the St Jan's Eagle Owl to show its wings at the church. He's been doing that for the past few nights and it's a great thing to witness. Sadly, he didn't show up last night. I wonder if his owner captured him finally or if the owl called Merlijn just took off for some other place, never to be found by its owner. Free at last! Check out this link in Dutch if you want to see photos and know more about this owl!