Travel preparations

I can pretty much split up my trips in 3 different categories: for work, to go visit my family and to travel somewhere new or exciting! I absolutely love the excitement of preparing for a trip to an unknown destination, there's a wonderful feel of adventure. I know it is not necessary to go far away to break routine, but right now I am savouring the anticipation of going away tomorrow...

I am going for a four day city trip to Warsaw with some girl friends that I adore and I am so happy first about having a well-deserved break from work, going to a totally new country, discovering the food, the streets, the funny sounding words, and doing all that with people I am very close to and who are really fun. I love the buzz of packing, trying not to forget anything important, thinking about what clothes to take so I'll be warm enough...

These last weeks and months have been quite trying and I am glad for a few days 'off' to do things for myself and I know it will bring me the energy I need for the coming period.

Unforeseen chances

I am having trouble posting regularly on this blog. Really lately time has just been flying past me, and this despite the fact that I am consciously trying to make more time for myself.

The last months have been very difficult and wonderful at the same time. For once I have something 'real' to worry about, and yet I feel ok. Cancer has entered my life, well not mine directly but my father's. He is lucky to be able to take a very strong medicine treatment from home but it is still not easy. I feel very strongly for him as he is really FIGHTING a battle against the disease to stay with us, his family. I feel for my mother who is daily more and more impressive in her way of dealing with things, staying positive, supporting my father and my family and keeping on working her job.

It is a curse, really. But it is also a blessing. A chance for me to see how much my parents love each other even after nearly 30 years. It is a chance for me to be able to get to spend more time with them and go home more often than I have in the last 10 years. It is a chance to see that my sibblings are wonderful and loving (not that I ever doubted it). It is a chance to put things into perspective in my own life and enjoy the moment, whilst finding myself and growing stronger. It is a chance to have heart felt talks with my father unexpectedly and make PLANS for the future because we believe in it. It is a chance to feel more loving towards my family because they will always be there for me.

For all of this I am extremely grateful and I feel serene. I trust that things will become better, soon, and this will have been an opportunity to grow.

Tasty deliciousness

It has been a pretty cold winter here in Amsterdam, with snow and ice which makes going around by bike a mess! I've found myself staying in home more peacefully, reading, watching movies and cooking delicious recipes. This recent one I had tried already once but this time it came out really well, maybe because of the organic veggies, who knows.

Pumpkin and Egg-plant green curry

Very simple. Cut a small pumpkin into small pieces about 2x1cm and do the same with the egg-plant. Chop and onion and cook it a little in olive oil, salt and peper it. Then add the veggies, when they are a little 'golden' pour a can of coconut milk into the pan and let simmer until the veggies are soft and tasty (Id say about 20mn). Near the end, add 2 table spoons of green curry paste (or more if you like it spicy!). I eat this with rice and it warms me from the inside.

Enjoy!

Man on wire

Man on wire is an amazing documentary about a tightrope walker in the 70s whose dream is to tie a cable between the Twin Towers and walk across. It is a truly amazing story told with very much emotion by the people who helped organise this 'coup'. I was hooked from beginning to end...

Some friends had told me about it and I watched it last week. Funnily enough it is one of the sources of inspiration in the Mondo Beyondo course I have started. Seems like a sign that this was preparation for listening to my own dreams ;-)

Welcoming the new year

I am happy that this new year is here. Not because I didn't enjoy last year (on the contrary it was a year full of learning, many travels, the starting of this blog and regular journalling...) but more because I am excited in what this year has in store for me. If the first days of this new year are to set the tone for the next 12 months then I am stoked: time spent with good friends, outdoors trying new activities, enjoying the elements (fresh air, snow storm, sunshine), and indoors playing games and getting to know each other better... as always the simple pleasures of life.

I welcome this new year with arms wide open like this little guy sitting in my street one day on my way home from work. Imperfect, but ready to take on all this year will bring me!

Documentaries about the environment

I haven't written in quite a while. There are several reasons for that. One great thing lately has been that I've enjoyed the IDFA ( the yearly International Documentaru Festival in Amsterdam). This year I took the time to look at what I wanted to see and booked tickets for 5 documentaries, mainly about environmental issues. Here are some tips if you can get your hands on these films:

Garbage Dreams is about young boys in Cairo, from the Zaballeen population that collect garbage to recycle it. It is super interesting to follow these boys in their daily life, to hear their dreams... One key moment in the film 2 of the boys go to Wales to see the recycling techniques there and they are surprised that not everything is recycled (part of it is done automatically and small parts are not gathered) and they comment that they could do better!

Tapped is about bottled water produced by Nestle, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Its really outrageous to see how these multinationals pump local inhabitants' water and sell it back to them for thousand times the price. In this documentary they also touch on the subject of the tons of plastic bottles that end up in nature without being recycled. Its enough to discourage anyone from buying drinks in plastic bottles.

In Earth Keepers a Canadian environmental activist explains how he got involved in it and travels around the world to meet experts who have developped solutions and projects that are simple in order to improve local environments (in terms of ecology, but often also socially). This film really makes one want to get involved, support local initiatives...

These films made me wonder "what the hell are we doing to our planet??!" and why is it so difficult to reduce our consumption or change out habits. And what can I do personnally? I will have to think about it, its a fine plan for ideas for 2010.

Illustration Friday - Unbalanced

Unbalanced: not in equilibrium, mentally disordered or deranged

When I read this definition of unbalanced, this is the drawing that came to mind. It looks the way my brain feels sometimes, that is to say one part is rational, smooth, a little intricate but easy-going and relaxed, while the other half is paranoid, over-thinking, complicated and self-destructive.

I really enjoyed drawing this, the only hitch was I found out I need to invest in a pencil sharpener because colouring in the lines with flat pencils doesn't work so well. Am off to post this on IF website and see what other wonderful drawings people have come up with.

Illustration Friday - Blur

"As she read his email, her heart sank..."

I've bought some new paints and sketchbook to occupy some peaceful hours at home during this winter. Sometimes its hard to know where to start so I've gone back to a website I'd seen a long time ago: Illustration Friday. Each week they give a theme for drawing and anyone can participate. Its great to have a starting point and amazing to see how many different ideas come out of the same theme. I'm going to try and do this more often. I'm off to check out this week's word :-)

I use the scanner at work which isn't optimal... so I'll have to be careful to make clearer outlines.

Mašta

This website is truely wonderful. They publish Mašta, a magazine with loads of ideas of street art, guerilla art, comments on society in a beautifully couloured booklet with the aim of inspring people all over the world. It's great fun to read and there are so many cool ideas...

Messages from the universe

I went to the movies with my parents who are visiting and chose to see Julia & Julie without really knowing what it was. Turns out it was a movie based on 2 true stories about many things, including writing a blog (the main character decides to blog her way through Julia Child's cookbook in a year- preparing over 500 recipes in 365 days and telling her adventures online).

I really enjoyed the movie, mainly because of the spectacular performance of Meryl Streep as a very tall and extravagant lady of the 60s. But also, I found the overlapping medium interesting, we read books, watch films, write blogs and this is now all intertwined. The character from the 1960s communicates by means of letters sent and received family and friends overseas, she works on the book with a typewriter and carbon paper. The modern girl communicates by internet via her blog with many faithful readers.

I must say I am sometimes a bit overwhelmed by modern communication means and the thousands of ways to contact people that are sometimes so impersonal. I'm a bit of a communication hermit in the sense that I do not have a facebook account, and practically never connect to msn. I might not seem very sociable or always have all the information, but I believe I end up finding out about the right things without being swamped with info. I feel the universe sends the right messages when they need to be sent and being constantly connected to internet or mobile phone doesn't make it go any faster. If anything it distracts my mind making it harder to see those signs...