stomach flu

what an awesome disease to experience during christmas. just fabulous!

anyway, i'm now sitting at my desk, drinking mint tea, reading midnight sun (marika is right - it's like crack) and feeling nauseous.

and that's all out of me. i hope. (HAHAHAHA - i'm hilarious).

LALALALALALA - I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!

take me back - save me please

i know you know the words - it's just my lifeline today and i feel like posting it.

Standing here
The old man said to me
Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find

Now he's falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree
Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she'd be his
Remembered mother's words
There beneath the tree
No matter what the world
You'll always be my baby
Mommy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
The air is growing thick
A fear he cannot hide
The dreaming tree has died

Oh have you no pity
This thing I do
I do not deny it
All through this smile
As crooked as danger
I do not deny
I know in my mind
I would leave you now
If I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please

From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up 'til then
For sure she'd make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
She gave it all she had
But treasures slowly fade
Now she's falling hard
She feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father's knee
How he had promised her
You'll always be my baby
Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can't find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died

Oh if I had the strength
Take me back
Save me please

so happy

we already had basic counting covered in france (we had twelve steps (sic) to our cottage and yannick would de/ascend-and-count them). it's one thing though to memorize 1-2-3-4 etc., but another to actually count.

this weekend, i had put 4 cookies on his stove (the cookies are the size of the nail of my thumb, so back off, mommy maffia). he walked up to his stove (a wooden cabinet with a stove and oven painted on it) and looked at the cookies, pointing at each one and mumbling something. then he exclaimed: "four!", and looked at me for confirmation. after confirming he had gotten it right, the kid litterally skip-hopped all over the place, saying "four!" "four!" "four!", then ate a cookie and went on with "three!" "three!" "three!". the kid was *beaming* with pride. sometimes i think i'm just going to burst with joy and love.

having kids is awesome. it might take ten years off your life, but it's awesome nonetheless. i never would have imagined that seeing a kid develop would be the most gratifying experience i'll ever have.

the hat

i think you guys call it a beanie, but this is the hat gina marie knitted for yannick. the pic is very blury because 'nick was all: "uhm, mom, i'm not going outside right now so the hat needs come off". anyway - the hat is darn cute.



and just for kicks, here's a pic of my completely whiped out boys.



and another one to show my boy is super hat-genic

girly whine

clinique changed *my* facial cream and i'm very upset.

it leaves my skin dry. as if my new wrinkles didn't make my skin sexy enough to begin with.

boo on you, clinique.

the end.

old e-mail

obviously, you need to read this bottom-up.
i was reading old e-mail etc... the reason why it stood out to me, was that most of 'us' (obviously, this is just part of the online conversation and obviously, *i* didn't know what the hell was going on) felt he would never make it all the way. back then, at least.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
---HOBART

which is exactly his point/stance in running... he hasn't been around long enough to be jaded by the current political system, nor is he engrained in the system. he doesn’t have the ties to big money interest groups that time and experience in politics produce. he sees the need for change the way (hopefully) most americans do, and I believe he is the one that might actually be able to make the necessary change.

And yes I’m an idealist.

obama for pres.


Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
--- Zachary J DeWever

Obama is a 2 year member of Congress. I think he needs more time to get involved in Washington. Although VP would serve him the opportunity to become a valuable asset to the Democratic Party.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
--- HOBART

other way around.


Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
--- Noelani Aker

i think the best bet is a hillary for pres/ obama for vp combo.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
---esther

who's obama and what does he do?



never heard of him.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
--- Steve

Because they're racist and sexist, obviously.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
---Justito

and folks wonder why americans don't vote.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
--- Steve Fink < stephenfink@ gmail.com> wrote:

Sounds like racism to me.

Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
---Alex

If he's lucky he'll be VP, that's it.


Re: [Nanners2001] boo hillary! go obama!
---John

he has two votes in kansas.

WORD.

good news!

'Meh': Apathetic expression enters dictionary

LONDON – At least someone is excited about "meh."
The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers.

gotta blog something

heard at a lecture about reputation management by american leslie gaines-ross:

"do you all have google over here?"

isn't that cute?

thank god

that saves me from another four years of bitching and whining. next time any dutchman complains, i can just yell at them: "hey, you wanted him to be president, too!". well, 90% of the time.*

the most fun part about this whole election was telling people that obama is anti gay marriage and pro capital punishment (to name a few things). oh, the look on their faces! priceless.

to those of you whos guy won: congratulations
to those of you whos guy lost: better luck next time, i'm sure
to those of you who voted for someone else: now, THAT's hope!
to those of you who didn't vote: i hear you. and so does obama, or so he says...


(PS: seeing jesse jackson cry made me tear up. shhh)
* this was actually measured - 90% of the dutch people wanted him to win

why i'm a great mom

let me tell you why i'm such a great mom. today i closed the garden doors with yannick's thumb between them. no, i didn't just close them, i leaned heavily against the doors because 'somehow', they wouldn't really close completely.

so, a completely flat thumb, a run to the emergency room, a broken bone*, a casket for my son's thumb (his right one - awesome! the one he now can't suck on to comfort himself - great!), and a run-in with a crackhead later, my guilt is SKY HIGH.

i should be nominated for mommy of the year. because really, who wouldn't vote for me?

right.



*it's not broken, it's a like a crack - but i don't know what the right word is and too consumed with guilt to look it up. really - the guilt. the guilt!

wet chocolate dreams

chocolade kruidnoten (chocolate covered 'spicy' mini cookies) are the friggin' devil.
in other words: sinterklaas is back in town.

please esther, bitch some more

yannick kept me up half the night. i'm so tired, i'd like to cry myself to sleep now. and the best news is, i have my first class tonight. awesome!

not done yet

i'm going back to school! i'm starting an MBA in march and will do some sort of pre-MBA (it's in order to 'qualify' for the MBA - i know there is a word for it in your neck of the woods but i forgot) first, which starts next week. i'm mostly looking forward to the finance classes. remind me of that later, huh?

i'm kind of excited - and kind of thinking i'm completely disturbed.

after drawing pictures for the entire family (way to get your priorities straight, kid), i finally got my first original yannick. i need to scan it. and you need to look at it. because you like me and will endulge me.

my organization sponsored demos and clinics in various urban sports this summer. this is a picture of a clinic streetdance with four very young participants.

the cuteness of this picture is killing me.

france had its perks

yannick likes coffee

... i caught him sipping on what was left in my coffee cup and actually licking the spoon.

he really is my child.

au revoir

we're off to france once again.
let's see what two-and-a-half days in the car does for two-year-olds.
see y'all in two weeks.

gustav

keeping fingers and toes crossed for the big easy.

no matter what they say

at least your elections aren't boring.

it's... fascinating, to me, as a foreigner. not fascinating in a bad way, not in a good way either. completely neutral fascination. they are not even that different from elections here, the emotional claim of the speeches is just taken so much further. and the response from the audience is so much less cynical.
people i respect, people i at least know to be intelligent, who still believe in politics. who claim that history is in the making. i'm not saying that to be condensenting (sp?), i'm saying that because i'm a little jealous of that. and maybe because the child in me still hopes that they will prove me wrong and them right.
not right in the sense that democracy will turn out to be something else than the numbing semi-comfortable shade of grey it is to me (i know it will never turn out to be something different because it is what it is), but right to still have faith in leaders. i'm not anti-leaders, i'm just not a fan of anything that forces me to the middle of the road. i'm not a fan of being forced, period. it's a typical dutch thing and it's what made my teachers say in high school that i was 'very promising, but has a huge problem with authority'.

anyway... good schtuff, those elections. thanks.

hip hip hooray!

yesterday was my birthday.
first i got a plane. awesome! my mom says the pilots are aliens but i don't know what that means.



then i got these cool balloons, that were unfortunately tied to a stupid bike.






























aunt gina marie sent me presents all the way from america!



after my nap, i got cake.



and this is how you eat it!



a rare opportunity for my mom to get her brothers and sister in one shot.

i'm too sexy for my shirt


























you're the meanest mommy in the whole world!

7.14 in the morning and my make-up is already officially ruined.

fuck.

one more week to go until it's yannick's birthday and i took it upon myself to make a birthday cake shaped like an aeroplane. why? because it's his favorite thing in the world (that's MY boy, people!).

but yes, esther making a plane shaped cake, with blue and white icing. it'll be interesting.

two day's after, he'll be at day care. since the kids in his group are now all between one and two years old, some parents can't help themselves anymore and have started a heated competition who brings the best b-day treats to daycare. one kid brought toddler chairs for the kids in his group. yes, chairs. are y'all insane???
needless to say yannick will only bring a box of raisins. no ribbons, no 'yannick' painted on handmade cupholders, no oil painting of his adorable face wrapped in gold tissue paper.
he's just bringing a box of raisins, and that's just because i know he'll love handing them out while wearing his birthday hat. otherwise i wouldn't have him bring anything at all.

random question

anyone else have the tendency to not take a company seriously when they use times new roman as a font on their website?

no?

the pocks have now dried out, so he just looks like a raisin role now (i'd say 'krentenbol' if you had any idea what that meant).

it doesn't get much more heartbreaking than a desperately cried "mama, papa, help" at 2 a.m. and there is absolutely nothing you can do.

but that was just one night. the next night was 'doable' as far as the itching was concerned and now we're all happy and relieved again. good thing yannick is not concerned with his looks just yet though.

oh - he's up. gotta run!

yay. pocks.

we all slept 4 x 1 hour last night. yannick read books and watched dvd's, meanwhile rubbing and scratching every chance he got. or he'd scream our heads off.

poor guy.

(poor us, too though)

:(

i finally get people saying 'they're growing up too fast!'. well, i get them a little bit. maybe.

but anyway - i blinked twice and all of the sudden yannick reads numbers and letters and is telling us what he is doing repeatedly, all the live long day (i'm eating i'm eating i'm eating i'm eating i'm eating i'm drinking i'm eating i'm eating i'm throwing food i'm not allowed to throw food i'm pooping oh-oh potty mommy help me ETCETERA) and sings songs (out of key) and now has chicken pocks.

i slept three hours last night and my dear friends of the press collectively decided that we were the news of the day, today. so i'm really really tired. but i have a yannick to go home to. that always makes things bearable. not better, but... lighter.

stink

you all know that the worst flight i ever had, is the flight to dallas for shayna's wedding. and y'all know why. if not, you're a guy or i don't know you well enough.

i have to say though, at random and completely out of the blue, that my flight back home from msn was second to worst.

i had the middle seat of the seats in the middle. on my right was a severely overweight woman (even less space for me) that had the. worst. breath. ever. she fell asleep (breathing through her mouth) with her face turned to me.
on my left, was the sweetest and oldest man (so old i was afraid he might turn into dust right there), who farted continuously when he was asleep. and he slept a lot.

all this for 10 hours. SUCH FUN!!!

these are yannick's 'school' pictures. the left one was taken last year, the right one this year.

okay - i think somebody stole my kid. the only thing that these kids have in common are their ears.

p.s.: no, these were not taken back in the fifties and i apologize if the bright colors have blinded you.

what i learned in the twin cities

1. nature in holland is a big fat joke






























2. people care enough about politics to make their own signs














3. no ice. no plates. great company. juicy lucy.














4. i miss this couch. so much.














5. dutch baseball is a big fat joke

























6. pipi longstockings is not from sweden (and this is my next home)














7. i finally understand that oprah truly is uneducated. i finally do. i couldn't shake the whole matter and i kept thinking about it and watching old shows, searching for the answer - and i finally understand. someone is laughing hard right now :)

8. if i had to choose between st. paul and minneapolis, i'd pick st. paul in a heartbeat. in fact, someday i'm going to live there. maybe not in this life, but some day. the best thing about st. paul? that it's right next to minneapolis.

In the honor of childhood heroes, when good was still good and the suffering conquered in nobility.

On the Island (fragment)
Cement-grey floors and walls
cement-grey days
cement-grey time
and a grey susurration
as of seas breaking
winds blowing
and rains drizzling
A barred existence
so that one did not need to look
at doors or windows
to know that they were sundered by bars
and one locked in a grey gelid stream
of unmoving time

Dennis Brutus - 1963

He emerged, walked free
looking like an ordinary, sweet grandfather

Lynne Bryer - 1990

in the land of the freeeeeeeeeeeeeee (part I)

so i went on a plane on may 14 and suddenly july is here and i finally have time to exhale.
who is interested to hear why i've been working day and night ever since i got back? nobody, and rightfully so. i'm not even interested and supposedly, this is my life.
so let's get back to the states, shall we? going back to saturn where the moonbeams glow, cause that was my first stop.

(i LOVED LOVED LOVED the new system on the plane where you could select and play your own movie/show/music whenever you wanted - AWESOME! especially for someone who simply cannot sleep on planes; = me).

(oh, how wonderful it is to not go through nicotine withdrawal on a 24 hour trip)

whoops and mrs. whoops were gracious enough to have me as their guest for a couple of days, in sucky sacramento. i say 'sucky', because they don't live there anymore now and hopefully they won't be offended. so, my third time in sucky sac and the "sparrows were falling off the roof" (dutch expression for "holy mother of god, it's hot").

after whoops picked me up and i picked up a burger at in 'n' out, i finally (well, four weeks after his birth) got to meet the mini-whoops. the mini-whoops is very lively (whodda thunk) and very adorable. i got him an orange poloshirt with the dutch lion on it and a navy blue rugby jersey (# 08). i hope he likes those colors.

suddenly we're all grown up. married, babies, respectable jobs... thank god we could still discuss everything and anything and thank god i had to tell my dear friend to shut up and let me talk for once, at least once a day. i hope that never changes.
what was really great and in hinsight not surprising, is that mrs. whoops is someone i could see myself being friends with. i don't know if that makes any sense, but it's one thing to like your friend's spouse, but another thing to genuinely like them.

(i'm not in good form today and my english sucks. stay with me people).

anyhoo, due to the heat we spent a lot of time outside sucky sac, enjoying the sceneries of for instance marin county and napa valley. we had lunch by the by on the terrace of this cute little place with the most spectacular view ever. i'd put up the picture if it didn't have any people in it. now you'll just have to believe me.

all in all, i had a great time but the visit only lasted two days. having an 'intergalactic' best friend has its perks but sometimes, it really sucks that you have about five minutes to catch up 'in real life' and then not see each other again for god knows how long.

i'll be posting about minnesooootah asap. with pictures!

i need a break

i actually need a break from not posting. something's gotta change. i miss my blog. it's insane that i haven't had a lunch break at work since.... forever. that i'm too tired to call, e-mail, write or talk to anyone after i get home. that i either have a shooting pain in my back or my head.

something's gotta change and the first change is me starting to post again. i miss this here blog. i miss at least kidding myself that i'm keeping in touch with y'all.

LOVE!
BABY!

P.S.: i'm starting tomorrow.

LAME!!

i know

i'm working on a post but in the mean time

blurry but too cute to throw away - yannick puts on my dmb hat













favorite activity - hiding from mommy behind the tool shed













second favority activity - hiding from mommy behind a lounge chair













just because

random-est

if you could really 'shop your ass off', i'd be supermodel material right now.

i'll be posting pictures of the stuff i bought for yannick, because it's just too adorable. and did you know that they have reefs in minnesoootah? hm hm. i bought three pair, thankyouverymuch. that should cover the next ten years...

i miss yannick. usually i dread going home, but i can't wait to see his face when he sees me in the crowd at the airport in amsterdam. i hope he's not pissed at me for leaving him. hee.

oh, and i got to talk to miss marika! and thaz all.

minnesoootah

hey there folks,

i'm coming to you live from gina marie's basement, where her wonderful ibook resides. i'm way too important and busy to give you an overview of my trip right now, but here are the highlights so far:

- the new djeems
- 110 degree weather. wahoo.
- casually have lunch at the top of a hill with the most spectacular view ever
- being on a 16 hour flight and NOT go through withdrawal. yahoo!
- starbucks. in 'n' out. matt's. judy's bbq.
- the dollar (sorry! not really though)
- seeing three wonderful friends and meeting some new wonderful people
- finding 2 dollar army cargo shorts for yannick
- teaching people how to pronounce yannick

I'M GOING TO A BASEBALL GAME TOMORROW!!!!!

more later

3 more days. 3 DAYS!

i've just seen the weather forecast for sacramento...

and of minneapolis...

packing will be an interesting challenge.

blah blah yadda yadda

fyi - i'm coughing my lungs out. who said non-smokers are healthier?

what i ate today (no i'm not starting a diet blog, i'm just here to shock you all)

granola with non-fat milk (i guess that's okay)
gazillion cups of coffee
whole weat role with meat loaf (of the dutch variety)
yoghurt & cream jammed with SUGAR, FAT and other goodies
three white wine
a whole lot of deep fried appetizers (we had drinks after work. at a bar. where to serve this food of the devil)
a hand full of tortilla chips
about 15 sweets to get me through the day
1/3 of a pint (? 1/3 of 500 cl at least) of ben & jerry's cookie dough (which i don't even like)

yeah, i know.

so we're having friends over for dinner this friday, and it's queen's day in two days. but, starting may 5, i will be on a diet. the first real diet i've been on in... 20 years. and not to loose weight, but to keep myself from really getting overweight. because i'm pushing it.

i'm not going on fourty, looking like fifty because i haven't slept in two years, rocking the skin of 14 year old on clearasil, with a bad attitude due to nicotine deprivation, ONLY to be carrying around two of me as well.

whine whine bitch bitch
so how was your day?

a.a.t.

1. i'm getting a new passport tomorrow. it looks like i'm actually making it this year!

2. yes, i'm still cigarette-less. and fat as hell. but whatever.

don't tell anyone

but i'm going to see john mayer in june, here in the hague. he's headlining a mini festival 'picnic in the park' and sarah told me to go. needless to say, i bought tickets (since i'm such an obedient person).

ever since i got the tickets i'm frantically trying to decide what kind of t-shirt to wear. because i want the t-shirt to say "you're just the gazillionth guy with a guitar so tone it down a bit" without wearing a text across the chest that says "you ain't got nothing on buckley". without it being too obvious, in other words.

i don't know. like anyone will care, right.

so, is the verdict on obama/clinton in, yet? it's getting BORING!!! interesting dilemma though, right? pick obama and you're sure to lose, pick clinton and it's bush 2000 all over again (this is from a dutch elective system point of view though).

blablabla esther shut up.

okay.

see, i'm obedient.

a new djeems

a new djeems is born!!! i've been told he's perfect. the best news is that i get to see him before he's even a month old!

congratulations to the one, and only, whoopsidaddy!

drugs are good

i'm doing good. don't ask me what i ate the last couple of days (liqorish! liqorish! bags and bags of liqorish!), but other than that, i'm doing good.

the poison should be out of my system by now, and that should mean that i'll be able to sleep tonight. without the night sweat, icecold toes and nightmares.
and yes, it's hard and at times i want to smoke so bad, i can actually feel what it's like to inhale the lovely smoke of that wonderful, fake old friend.

the cigarette does the smoking. i'm just the sucker.
the cigarette does the smoking. i'm just the sucker.
the cigarette does the smoking. i'm just the sucker.

anyhoo (she said, while sucking on her third menthol candy this morning - i can feel the two sizes weight gain coming now!!), quitting ain't easy but like maarten said: "chemo feels a lot worse".

nothing else is new, except it's ONLY ONE MORE MONTH (and a week and a half) TO GO!

new words

'hello' and 'bye' - in english. so proud.

other news: i'm deaf on the right side. going to the doctor's today. i'm quitting smoking for the gazillionth time on april first (oh, you didn't know i had picked up the habit again? first thing i did after yannick was born). but i'm getting medication this time and therapy. yes, i am a weak loser to need so much help but this has to be the last time. work is HELLA BUSY. yannick and maarten are awesome.

poop.

since yannick has been telling us when he's pooping or after he has pooped, we've been confronting him with the potty. and he's been peeing on it, too! but no luck getting into his head that he needs to tell us about the poo before the act of pooping, so he can poo on the potty as well. he has one book in which the dog pooped on the sidewalk and he's pretty obsessed with it. and what about the one where the mole wants to know who pooped on his head? another favorite book. he's also peeing in the bathtub (only when he's taking a bath, people) and is pretty fascinated with all that water coming out of him.

ANYWAY. it's all part of the genital phase, i assume. oh, we've entered that phase alright. and that's all i'm saying about it because there are pretty sick people in this digital universe, as we all know.

i'm taking some classes again and i'm so stoked about it. it makes me want to go back to school for another degree, again. but we're also looking for a new house and maarten is thinking about getting another degree as well and who knows what the stork might have in store for us in the future?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

i want it all, i want it all, and i want it now.

(and still, when i read in magazines about over the top women wanting to have the great career, the great marriage, the great sex, the great children, the great house, the great friends, the great education and the great world trip, i think: this is not about me.
hee.)

it's almost april and that means that california is about to welcome a new citizen. very excited about it and it reminds me that i need to e-mail his/her parents.

love you all!

quick!

have a peek at yannick-with-hair before we shave it all off again!

nope, one more

twimc:

sfo: may 14th -> sacramento
msp: may 16th
amsterdam: may 23rd

hang out your flags.

now i really need to lower my enthusiasm and go to sleep, 'cause the yalarm will go off at 6.30 am tomorrow morning (and i'll need to prepare the yaporridge, take a quick yashower and take a yawalk in the park before we can all sit down again - tomorrow is my yaday!)

oh madeline

madeline albright just guested on a dutch show and in my next life, i will be marrying her (provided she'll be a 30 year old attractive guy).

and that's all you're getting out of me, tonight.

behold. yannick now eats his yoghurt with a spoon (he had already mastered the art of eating solids with a fork). and looks mighty proud while doing it. and white. yoghurt. everywhere.

went to the ballet yesterday - think i haven't been since i was... 12. they danced 'coppelia', of which the music was written by my step dad's ancestor léo delibes. we were there with my parents, brother and step sister and her children. the stage and costumes were awesome and it was great to finally see a choreography to the music our parents used to bore us with on sundays.

oh yes

i booked!

flying into sfo may 14, flying back home from msp may 22.

hell yeah!

(now i just need to find a really cheap flight from sfo to msp, or i'm screwed)

instinct

i went to the hospital last thursday with yannick for a complete physical (for him). on a regularly basis, his hand and feet turn blue and at the daycare centre, they kept insisting we should have him checked. it's funny, but i never worried for a second. i just knew that there would be nothing wrong with him. but since they were so persistent, we made an appointment anyway.

he's officially super healthy. and i officially concluded that i rock at keeping a toddler happy while he has to sit still for about an hour. and i can officially declare that it is an utterly draining thing to do.

booking flights this week, by the by!

natalee holloway

if this is true, i can't help but be intrigued how someone that young can keep his cool for so long and not say a word before.

the dutch journalist will 'unveil the whole story' on dutch tv this sunday. after that, we can all put an end to this two-year-long uber-drama, hopefully. not to mention her parents can get some closure. and dr. phil can revel in his being-right-all-along.

eh

yannick is not feeling well and his voice is almost gone. of course i feel really bad for him and i worry about him, like i always do when he's not in his element, but... i know i'm going to burn in hell for it, but it's also kinda hella cute when he throws a tantrum and only a little 'eeeh' comes out.

i'm so bad.

annoying!

'eh hee' is not available for download outside the u.s.

WHY? just give me a good reason and i'll shut up.

there is no good reason. is there???!!!

(p.s.: yannick and i started a band - i play the flute, he plays drums)

meeemorieieieies

(yes, i look like a dork)

i'll be wearing that mccain shirt!

i had to delete this post because it just might be possible that some people won't understand that i'm kidding (or take offense to hanging out with doug - you never know).

so that's why i have to say something else now. hm....

if the only way to losing weight and not gaining it back is a change in lifestyle, why do so many people around me still (crash) diet?

just wondering.

ANYWAY. close to booking that flight to MSP and SFO!! woo!

just for fun

(if i would and could vote, i think it'd be hillary - i'm dying to get a hillary baseball cap when i'm in the states THIS MAY)

82% John Edwards
78% Hillary Clinton
78% Barack Obama
76% Mike Gravel
75% Dennis Kucinich
74% Chris Dodd
71% Bill Richardson
70% Joe Biden
44% Rudy Giuliani
36% John McCain
31% Mitt Romney
31% Tom Tancredo
25% Mike Huckabee
20% Ron Paul
16% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

no wait - a mccain t-shirt just to piss off the europeans when i return!

forget 'teaching' english

... because my english is getting worse and worse. i'm noticing i'm not speaking it everyday anymore (since i don't work for an international company now).

it's annoying me to bits and it means i should just get my butt on a plane, right? right!

baby talk

so you're probably expecting a somewhat comprehensive, or at least interesting and intelligent post by now - but you guessed it: no such luck.

i'm just going to talk about my boy. cause i feel like it. so there.

yannick got a dvd for sinterklaas. he's completely into it. and that is the first Principle with a capital p that's out the window. i always swore my kids wouldn't be allowed to watch tv before the age of six. he's now 16 months old. good going, mom.



he's such a delight though. i think in many ways, he takes after me. he enjoys playing by himself (current favorites: duplo and blocks) and even 'reads' to himself. he'll just grab a book and talk out loud, sometimes getting a word or two right (and looking mighty proud doing so), but most is just gibberish - cute gibberish. he's talking like crazy anyway, sometimes even blurting out a sentence (current favorite: get out of the way). anyway, he enjoys the company of other children and playing with us just as much as being by himself - something we've got in common.

i sing english songs to him (all time favorite: because by the beatles), but i'm afraid to really teach him english. i don't want to be pushy. i firmly believe that you can give your kid too much attention and you shouldn't always be directing him but let him discover things on his own. is regularly exposing him to another language 'too much attention', especially since it's not my native language and he's in the process of learning his own native language as well? i don't know yet.

it's a hard enough job to set boundaries and rules these days anyway. he's quite obviously developed a consious and is testing us all the time. here's a pic of what happens when he doesn't get his way :)



last but not least, just one of my favorites of yannick with his great grandmother, grandmother, and cousins.

without permission