A little of this, a little of that ...

I recently realised that my blog is my little island of calm ... the place where I go when I need to think and feel alles goed, no matter how big the mess of my life is.

This year has been an 'interesting' year.
The blog is the visible portion of my life ... the tip of the iceberg.

Anyway I've just started working with a truly superb woman called Laura. She's a business and life coach, a wise woman too and this week's homework is the book Getting Things Done - How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity ... if ever there was a time in my life when this book was required reading, it surely has to be now. It arrived in the mail today.

I'm launching my businesses ... slowly but surely launching the photography business.
Tomorrow is the 'neighbours special' mail-out ... I checked with many Belgians before pursuing this marketing plan. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Cafe Press project my daughter and I are putting together continues to undergo change as we work out 'dpi' and how to reframe photographs to fit products as diverse as clock faces and postcards ... all the time adding new images to our selection over at Instinctive Art.

My granddaughter alternately melts my heart and makes me wonder how a two year old can be so certain that she has a right to express her own views in a manner befitting a queen.

Her 'latest' is to point at her eye and say 'I' ... then she draws the shape of a heart with her hands over her chest and says 'love' ... then she points directly at the object of her affection and says 'YOU'.

We walked a million miles today, through rain and wind, searching the back streets of Antwerpen for the little fashion boutiques this city specialises in ... affordable fashion boutiques. My daughter had a need for new clothes and she was sent traveling with birthday gifts of money from family back home.

There was this little black knee-length coat I had fallen in love with last week. My daughter had tried and discarded it as 'too tailored and classic'.
It was 122euro down to 35euro ... last in stock.
It was stunning.

Today we made our way back to the store and yes, I was lost for quite some time while taking us there ... the back streets are tricky if you're neither a native nor a shopper but finally success came just as we felt we couldn't go on.

The coat was still there, it looked stunning on her and she bought it.
Triumphant we headed off to the supermarket Gert and I usually drive to.
('Usually drive to' is an important part of this story.)

We arrived eventually, shopped and were leaving the store when I remembered that I always go there by car ... that would be the car that we always have shopping bags in because 'TA DAAAA!, they don't give you shopping bags.

Sigh, little Miss Two had to give up her pushchair, we filled all available bags and made our sorry way back to the bus stop to wait for a bus that took so long to arrive.

6.30pm, finally home ... footsore, weary and cold, although priding ourselves on managing it all.

Not such a bad day, especially if I don't move my feet.

Oh and ... 4 massive sets of photographs were checked over a million times before they were burned to cd this morning. Delivery tomorrow now, it fell off the list of today.

2 more massive sets of images to work on then most of my free work is done.
Let's see if I can make the transition and start earning an income.

So yes, this photographer is surely for hire!

Tot ziens.