Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 September 2010: Heidi and Sarah and The Lool and Yma and Matto and Tom Face The Day...

Sarah says:
Fun photo above of me and Heidi! Check out her hair! Check out my little look! We were at Heidi's so that Tom and The Lool could have their hair cut. It was good to see Heidi again and to get some updated photos on here of her and her family.

That's my French look above...

The Lool's new 70 rocker haircut above!

Yma above - looking 4 years old!

Matto asleep above and wide awake below!

Tom and I above sleeping - don't ask! That was on Saturday the 25th.

And me above trying to be creative with a photo...

By the way - I had another article published in the Belgian English weekly newspaper Flanders Today about an upcoming conference. You can read it via this link if you want!

Thursday 23 September 2010: Sarah is not a spring-chicken anymore!

Sarah says:
Stayed up until past 2am after the U2 show and so very tired the day after! That's when I feel my age! Luckily I was smart and took a day off from work. I hung around doing almost nothing. I stayed tired the whole day! In the past, in my younger days (haha), I could recover from these late nights fast. Those days are very, very over! But I had a great time seeing friends and seeing U2. Looking forward to the weekend though! That's for sure!

Tuesday and Wednesday 22 and 23 SEptember 2010 - Sarah sees U2 perform with some good ole' friends!

Sarah says:
Saw U2 perform in Brussels last night with my old Europe in the World exchange program friends from 17 years ago - Markus from Germany and Ivar from The Netherlands. It was so fun to see them and to see U2. Markus asked me if I would put the above photo in my "diary" and if I still write my "diary". It made me laugh and I let him know it's called a blog these days :-).

More photos of the gig can be found via this link!

Above photo is from Tuesday the 21st I think.

Friday 17 - Sunday 19 September 2010: R.I.P one of The Lool's guinea pigs :-( and Sarah sails away the day...

Sarah says:
Above and below photos are from Sunday the 19th of September. I am very sad to announce that one of The Lool's guinea pigs died Sunday morning. We buried him in my husband's parents' garden so that The Lool can visit his grave every now and then. It was a bit heart-breaking to see The Lool experience death like this for the first time. She was so sad. She's now doing her best to keep the other piggy alive as such animals get very depressed and can stop eating when a mate dies. I really hope she survives. The Lool would be so devastated if she doesn't. It's hard to see your kid so sad.

Above photo is also from Sunday the 19th but a little later in the day at a flea market we sold stuff at. That's Nathalie - Heidi's sister. It was a very fun, but cold and rainy, morning with her drinking coffee, eating muffins, selling just a few things each and trying on all the clothes we were selling to stay warm outside! Because of the rain, we left at noon. Here are some photos from that morning!

The team at my office went on a team-building sailing trip on the Belgian Sea on Friday the 17th of September as you can see above and below. For the full story and all the photos, click on this link!

Above you can see me and my colleague Ellie on the sail boat on Friday!

Thursday 16 September 2010: HEIDI and Sarah Face The Day together or face lunch together rather and what about that hairstyle for Sarah?

Sarah says:
Yey! Heidi's here and we even had lunch together! Good to see her! Really! She thinks I should try a new hairstyle like the one below. Slowly I am starting to agree. I have until the 4th of October to decide. Scary!!!

Saturday 10 - Tuesday 14 September 2010: random shots from last few days of Sarah, The Lool and some expat friends...

Sarah says:
The Lool and I above and The Lool below. Top photo is from yesterday - the 14th of September and bottom photo is from Sunday the 11th. The Lool sure loves her hair but she isn't very happy about her skin. Puberty will do that to you! She's such a super kid? Brings me so much joy. Sunday I had such a bad back ache. I was sure it would put me back in the hospital soon. I rested most of the day - which was sad because we were celebrating Tom's birthday at his parents' home and all I could do is lie down and eat. I felt so bad and worried. Monday I had to work as I have a lot to do these days so I took some heavy pills and tried to take it easy. Today - Wednesday - I feel okay? Not great at all but more hopeful that maybe it will just go away this time. That's probably a dream and it will just get worse. I can only hope!

Above photo is from Monday the 13th I think - not feeling well in my back at all!

And above and below photos are from Saturday the 10th with some lovely expats friends of mine. We went to Dover, UK for the day to celebrate the 50th birthday of another expat friend of ours. It was fun. The sitting for too long did hurt my back though sadly.

Thursday 09 September 2010: You can get a lot done in a year...

Sarah says:

One year later at Howest and The Studios is finally officially launched. It feels great to have come this far. You can get a lot done in a year and go from insecure to sure. Well - you can never be too sure! Anyway - via this link you can see photos of the launch if you'd like! Above you can see me twice with my two lovely colleagues the two Hildes!

Tuesday, 07 September 2010: Sarah is dizzy...

Sarah says:
I'm in a blur right now.

Saturday and Monday 04 and 06 September: Happy Birthday to Tomske!

Sarah says:

Above photo from the 6th of September of me and The Lool! She's on her Nintendo of course.

That's Tom above and below on his 39th birthday on the 4th of September making homemade applesauce above and blowing out candles on his cake below. It was a nice celebration with some good friends. I love growing old with Tom! He's a super duper person. There is this great movie I saw not too long ago that really struck me as I watched it. It's called 'World's Fastest Indian' - and is based on the true story of Burt Munro. Burt is played by Anthony Hopkins and is an older man. Anyway - while watching this character, all I could think of was that his personality and his way with people reminded me so much of Tom - just this lovely guy who talks to everyone and is so likable. I looked up the movie and came across a description of the character and again - it reminded me so much of Tom. My instincts must have been right! Here's the quote and here's why I love Tom so much: "Burt becomes an instantly likable character by everyone he meets. His charm shines through and he takes everyone he meets at face value and welcomes all with a smile and a shake of the hand. He meets various "characters" along the way who he befriends like long-lost friends, which in these days of prejudice and alienation is quite refreshing."

You should all see the movie if you haven't yet!

Above photo of me from the 4th is with my new wool hat! I love it. And below is in the kitchen watching Tom make applesauce.

Friday 03 September 2010: I love my Belgian girls!

Sarah says:
I'm so happy to have Tilly and Heidi in my life. They make Belgium feel like home. Nothing better than friends sometimes. I'm thankful to not feel alone. I haven't been feeling so great lately and I am happy to be able to ell my close friends anything and everything and know they will still love me no matter how flawed I am feeling.

Tuesday, September 01, 2010 - It's Flashback first of the month at Face The Day and Flashback 1st day of school!!!

Sarah says:

I am so not on top of Face The Day these days so I'll try to catch up now! Can't miss a flashback first of the month! I take photos almost each day but I forget to post them or don't have time and then I forget which day the photos I took are from. I do know that the above one is from the 2nd of September actually because I forgot to take one on the 1st (very rare for me!). But I did remember to get an Ayla first-day-of-school shot below! Let's check it all out!

There we are, a year ago 01 September 2009! I am just about to hop on my bike in the above photo to go to my first day of my new job! I have been at Howest for a year now and have another contract signed for the year ahead! Click here to go back to this day a year ago!

That's us two years ago above on 01 September 2008. We were good busy with our previous job and our colleague Nancy had started that day. It seems like ages ago and it still can make me sad to think about how much can change every year...

Above is my Marv and me three years ago today on 01 September 2007. Too bad Heidi wasn't in a photo that day! Via this link, you can see what was going on at Face The Day three years ago today!
There above you can see Heidi and me four years ago today on 01 September 2006. Via this link, you can read more about that day four years ago!
And above you can see us five years ago today on 01 September 2005! Click on this link to see more about that day five years ago today!!!!

FLASHBACK 1ST DAY OF SCHOOL! To see Yma on her first day of her new school scroll down to next entry! Above you can see The Lool on 01 September 2010 - her first day of the 6th grade! There's a big difference between this year and last year! I can't believe it is her last year of lower school. I will be so sad when it is over. She's becoming a young adult so fast! It's lovely and weird all at the same time! She still has the same book bag! (5 years going on 6 she's kept it so well! - We'll buy her a new one when she starts middle school!)
Above you can see The Lool one year ago today, 01 September 2009, just before she went to school to start the 5th grade!!!!

It was the first day of school for my daughter two years ago on 01 September 2008! She started the 4th grade!! Above you can see my daughter three years ago in 2007 on the first day of the third grade. It's so great to be able to track her growth this way! Above you can see her on her first day of the 2nd grade - 2006! I couldn't find the original photo so I took a photo of a printout I had made. Not great quality - but I least I have every year now!
Above is the first day of school picture I found of her for the 1st grade - so in 2005.

Above photo is of me on Monday the 30th or Tuesday the 31st of August I think... I had a huge headache! Hormonal I think!

1 September 2010: you know what that means!

last year

this year

Yeah, I am copying Sarah :-)