A new blogging home

After four years of blogging here I have decided to move my blog to www.joyoflittlethings.com.  As well as the usual stories, I will incorporate inspiration from my interior design work.  Thank you for reading and I hope you will come say hello there!

Please update your bookmarks and readers!

Autumn

As I am writing this, the sun is streaming in through the windows bathing everything in a golden glow.  I love those days where all you want to do is bask in the sunshine. I am still off work due to my arm injury but am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a custommade brace that should allow me to type and draw without pain.  I can pick it up on Tuesday so I am pretty excited!

We managed to extend the summer with a wonderful long weekend in Lucca, staying with our friends D and M. The food was -  as always - glorious, fresh porcini, beef tagliata, antipasti, brunello wine... each meal seemed even better than the one before.  Just sitting outside sipping aperitif and wearing short sleeved dresses was a joy! The artisanal icecream, marble churches and modern art were a bonus.

I have been reading a lot - as my own library is unfortunately pretty much exhausted I have been borrowing books from friends.  This is an interesting process as sometimes what people think I may like and what I actually like are so far apart it is comical.  I have however also read a few very good books I probably never would have bought for myself.  I enjoyed "The sorrows of an American" by Siri Hustvedt and "Mary and O'Neill" by Justin Cronin as well as "The wind up bird chronicle" by Murakami (bizarre as always but no one can describe life's tedious minutiae so well and beautifully).

I have been visiting lots of houses all over antwerp as my sister wants to buy a new house.  It is quite interesting to set foot in houses that haven't been touched since the sixties (orange plastic bar? fake leopard  skin floor?  green avocado bathroom suite anyone?). It definitely stretches the imagination!

We are counting down 4 weeks to our trip to Thailand.  We decided to only pack carry on luggage.  Soooooo even though I always said i would NEVER EVER buy an e reader, I think I might buy one after all just so I don't have to drag books all over Thailand.  I had a look in the shops but there are so many options of course I couldn't choose. I'm doubting between the basic kindle and an IT Works reader but am not sure whether I want just a basic model or whether I want to pay more for touchscreen, wifi etc.  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has one they are happy with!

Sunny intervals

There's been a definite chill in the air this week which makes me appreciate even more the couple of hours of sunshine we had this weekend.  I moved the lounge chair closer to the windows just to bask in it.  I'm still out of work due to RSI and feeling pretty antsy doing nothing.  I started reading a Murakami novel, it is huge (I have to put it down whilst reading as I can't even hold it!), hopefully that will keep me going for a while. 

The only things that have been keeping me sane these last couple of weeks are meditation everyday (thanks to the method as taught on zenhabits I finally got into the habit) and the sessions P and I do with our personal trainer Orlando.  They help me work through the huge amounts of frustration that build up when all you are allowed to do is sit on the sofa and read.  Thanks to Orlando's tips I have also managed to seriously up the calories burned during my sessions at the gym. Whilst calories are not the whole story, I am definitely grateful as my life lately has mainly consisted of doing nothing!

Yesterday we had dinner at ciro's  I know it's not fashionable but there are few restaurants in antwerp that do meat so well and in such authentic surroundings and with such good service.  On sunday we went to Otark's breakfast club where we had goat's cheese baked in a fig leave with fig jam and georgian bread.  The tangy cheese was offset beautifully by the caramelised figs and I had to stop myself from not stuffing myself with the bread.  Next weekend we'll be in Lucca and I am looking forward to a change of scenery!

Enjoying the september sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend has been all about sun... and art.  On Saturday we walked around the area where we live - Borgerhout - for BHART which is the local art festival.  There were both exhibitions and open houses in artists studios.  Some of the art was interesting, some of it was captivating and some, well I guess tastes differ... (a mattress that leaks bodyfluids, really??).  I have to admit the most exciting part for me was being able to go into all these old factory buildings I never even knew existed.  
On Sunday we went to Middelheim open air museum which is my favourite park.  We packed a picnic and lounged around in the shade reading the newspaper and napping... This is what summer days should be like!

London in summer

I'm back from a fantastic weekend in London full of the usual: spending quality time with friends, good food and drinks, visiting... On thursday I took the first flight to city airport - it leaves from Deurne airport that we can practically see from our house. It requires a 20 minute check in only so it is such an easy flight.  Once I got to A and N's house I was starving.  A had to go to a meeting so her little boy B and me went to wait for her across the road in Minkies Deli.  They do the best BLT and according to B the best smarties cookies. I think 8 year old boys know best when cookies are concerned so I believe him.  We then drove to Westfield which is perhaps not the most atmospheric but definitely a practical shopping destination. I had never been there before but the centre resembles the original one in Sydney so much I found it disorienting at times. After I got the necessities (8 novels at WH Smith, tops and sweater at Uniqlo, lego for the little boy, porridge at Waitrose) we relaxed with an excellent Byron Burger. 

It was then off to Queens park for B to show off his batting skills. My friend J works close by so came to meet us there.  We had drinks at the paradise before going for pizzas at Pizza East Portobello.  The spicy sausage pizza never disappoints.  It was such a nice night that we walked home, I love meandering through the streets of Portobello with its sweetly coloured houses, music floating from windows, its tree lined streets and exotic shops.

On friday P arrived and we first got a picknick from Ottolenghi before going shopping in Selfridges.  I bought some exercise pants from Sweaty Betty.  I've never seen that brand in Belgium but the name made me smile.

It was starting to heat up so we sat in the shade for a bit on Grosvenor Square before going home to A and N's for a barbeque.

Saturday was even hotter.  We walked around Soho for a bit and Carnaby Street then walked to Green Park via Waterstone's (book nb 9 was bought here).  After buying some goodies from M&S and the paper we found ourselves a cool spot under one of the many trees in the park.  It was great just to sit, I felt like I should be running around seeing exhibitions but we were so comfortable where we were we stayed put for the rest of the afternoon.  We then went to the Whiskey Exchange, according to P they have one of the best selections of whiskey he's ever seen, before meeting friends in Oskar's the bar at Dabbous.  I really wanted to go the restaurant but it was fully booked until May (can you believe it?).  The cocktails are out of this world and the bar food (I had a Wagyu steak sandwich) amazing.  We ended with dessert at the Charlotte Street Hotel, so many people were out and about, the atmosphere was great.

Sunday was every bit as hot as it was predicted to be so we took the train to Kew Gardens where there was also an exhibition of Nash sculptures.  I have to admit we only saw half of the park and took afternoon naps in the shade whenever we could...

Scenes from the weekend

The weather has been glorious, which is a good thing as it means I can at least sit out my sickleave on the balcony.  We started the weekend at "Antwerp Beach" Bocadero which is well worth a visit to watch the beautiful sunset over the Schelde, a cocktail in hand.  On Saturday we went to the South of Belgium for a walk and a visit to the Musée de la vie Wallonne. I'm not usually fond of this type of open air museum but this one has been buying up historical buildings due for demolition and has moved them all down to their domain so it's quite interesting to see.  In the evening we ate in Saint Hubert - hunting capital, something that became abundantly clear as we were sitting in the sunshine enjoying our aperitif: about 40 people of all ages arrived in the traditional red hunting costume, all carrying hunting horns as they were holding a concert in the church - surreal!

Yesterday I went to have a cast fitted on my arm, luckily it is removable so I can take it off to shower.  As we were in the neighbourhood, my dad (who was my driver for the day) and I went to the Sol Lewitt exhibition in Leuven.  Sol is such an interesting person - which other artist do you know that decided to do away with canvas painting directly on walls?  My dad humoured me by coming to the exhibition with me (he's definitely more on the traditional side of the art scale, think Rubens and Flemish primitives).  He even admitted that creating the drawings would take a lot of skill and even sat through the video explaining how the drawings were made with me.

Overall my level of boredom is going through the roof though. I'll be glad to go to London on Thursday.  I tried to get a booking at Dabbous which looks like such an interesting place but it's fully booked for the next 6 weeks! I'm still waiting to see whether we can get into the bar though...

Three long hours

I have RSI (inflamed muscles and joints) in my right hand  from too much computer time so I am typing this lefthandedly with one finger.  I haven't done that since before sister Imelda taught us all to touchtype when we were 15 on manual typewriters, the keys of which were covered with coloured stickers (yellow for middle finger if I remember well...). It is frightening how much I rely on the computer both for my work and free time.  I've had to give up on things that were on my to do list today  like planning our upcoming trip to London (any suggestions for nice restaurants and exhibitions welcome), finding a reading light and looking for a new cake recipe.

I finally decided to go to the library and checked out a towering stack of books.  Whilst I choose them because I believe them to be interesting books (there's a selection of english, indian and american writers, novels, thrillers, lighthearted and serious books), I have to admit I was also making my selection based on size of book and weight as I then had to carry the bag in my left hand only to the car... At least it gives me something to do to fill the three hours until P comes home from Miami.  It's not that I've been utterly lonely during that whole week - I went for cocktails with a girlfriend at skybar (lovely view!) ate out every night with friends (the beetroot pasta with truffle and grilled almonds was a highlight, Duval has such good food) and my sister came over yesterday to cook for me but it will be nice to have P back...

As it took me about half an hour to type all this, there's now only 2.5 hours to go, sigh...