Scuba Diving Boyfriend and Quartier Latin by Night

Paris yesterday:

Diving in Paris slums, Jardin du Luxembourg, Origami apes, Pirate ship, Nigiri and Kirin Beer, La tour Eiffel, Hôtel de Ville + ice rink, Les Césars, My homie, Carrousel, Notre-Dame.

Useless Attempts, Disappointments and René Descartes

Bathing suit: Speedo - Shiny sweater: Mango - Patent black belt: Au bon marché - Sweatbands: Puma (gifted ;-)) - Tights: H&M

Finally found some time to blog. I'm the worst blogger ever. I come and disappear again. Sorry guys!! Hope you'll forgive me. I've learned some important lessons this week. Lessons for life. Once again I've been disappointed in friendship. Once again I now know who my true friends are. So let's have a toast to a wiser me!

Dutch:

Wat een HEL van een week. Door de ontzettende continu evaluatiedruk, de vele werkjes die we moeten presenteren, de dubbele masterproef en de cursussen die blijven opstapelen en aan de kant blijven liggen én de examens in zicht, raken de gemoederen soms al eens verhit. Met escalerende ruzies als gevolg. Wijze lessen deze week:

Les 1: Ambitie hebben is een positieve eigenschap, maar over lijken gaan (en iedereen rondom je verpletteren) om toch maar je doel te bereiken, is een ander punt. Een mentaliteit (ellebogenwerk vind ik een mooi woord) die ik ten zeerste verafschuw. Helaas loopt de planeet over van zo'n mensen de dag van vandaag. SAD

Les 2: Proberen minder naïef te zijn. 

Les 3: Op je strepen staan. Blijven gaan voor hetgeen waar je in gelooft, vechten.

Les 4: In het leven raak je talloze keren ontgoocheld in mensen, wanneer je het minst verwacht. 

Les 5: Kop op en gaan met die banaan. 

En dan nog mijn voornemens (beetje laat int jaar ma kom hih): Mijn lichaam meer verzorgen vooral op vlak van regelmaat eten/drinken en sport. René Descartes is er destijds mee begonnen: het dualisme tussen geest en lichaam. Van elkaar gescheiden maar toch verbonden. Je pense, donc je suis. Ik benader dit natuurlijk vanuit een iets meer wetenschappelijk standpunt maar toch heeft die man wel ergens gelijk: als het int koppeke niet goed zit, takelt het lichaam ook af. Voila.
En omgekeerd gaat ook: eens goed je frustraties eruit sporten, werkt verhelderend int koppeke. Voila.

Al de hele tijd zinloze pogingen gedaan om terug te gaan lopen, maar nog geen fut gehad! Mijne outfit was er hihih maar nu de rest nog. btw, ik doe nog een loopbroek ook aan hoor no worries.

En nu ga ik een tussendoortje eten en met mijn hondje gaan wandelen nah.  

Sunday morning glory

I woke up this morning. Not the usual morning mood. Just feeling good, relaxed and happy. There is nothing better than reading the latest issue of Nest in bed with a delicious cup of coffee. I hope Mr. Spring & I will meet again soon....

I went to Antwerp this week to visit my sister. I purchased this wooden black hand. They sell these at a gorgeous little store called a.puur.a (Onderbergen 56, Gent - Kammenstraat 89, Antwerpen). Actually I was in love with every single item in the store. Rough wooden table's, deer skulls, Chie Mihara shoes, amazing fine leather purses, handbags, unique jewelry, cool stationary, romantic bedsheets, chinese porcelain, ...

I have to go now, need to study and to prepare a case. Enjoy your week!!!

Shop La Fille

Much more secondhand & vintage items to come hunnies!

Kahlo

My favourite artist is definitely Frida Kahlo. Her work totally blows me away every time I see it. Every painting really touches me. It seems like I understand her, I feel her through her work. Her person and work are such great inspirations. I hope to buy a Frida painting some day (i would also be really happy with a copy ofcourse). My alltime favourites are pictured below:

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  "Roots"
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  "The wounded deer"
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  "The two Frida's"
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  "Without hope"
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  "Henry Ford hospital"
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  "Moses" (voorlaatste foto, PRACHTIG)
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  "Self portrait in a velvet dress"
• 
  
  "Self portrait on the border of Mexico and the United States"
• 
  
  "Broken Column"

Enjoy the music and the paintings

The life:

On a rainy day in September 1925, Frida Kahlo and her boyfriend Alejandro Gómez Arias were in Mexico City waiting for a bus that would take them to her home in Coyocán, Mexico. The bus came, and they climbed on. As Frida and Alejandro chattered about her plans for medical school, the driver approached a risky intersection and decided to take his chances. Seconds later, an electric trolley rammed into the bus, destroying it and launching bodies everywhere. 18 year-old Frida disappeared in this confusion, and Alejandro, also injured, discovered her with a metal pole protruding from her abdomen. After someone pulled the pole out, an ambulance rushed her to the hospital, where doctors treated a fractured pelvis, a dislocated shoulder, two broken ribs, and shattered bones in the right leg and foot. This accident was the beginning of an unbearably painful series of physical ailments that would persist for the rest of Kahlo’s short life. Only two things would offer solace: painting and muralist Diego Rivera.

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 to two Jewish immigrants. A poster child for Freud’s theories, she adored her father and resented her mother. The family home in Coyocán, Mexico was painted cobalt blue outside, and for this reason it became known as the Blue House. Frida had three sisters, and though her status as daddy’s favorite set her apart from the others, her affliction with polio beginning in 1913 would forever mark her as different. After she healed, Frida was left with a withered right leg that she covered with pants and long skirts. During her recuperation, her father lavished attention on his favorite child, who had once been an energetic tomboy. He helped Frida exercise and, in an attempt to find ways of entertaining her, he gave his daughter some paints.

Guillermo Kahlo preferred Frida to his other children because she was the most intelligent. And in 1922, Frida made Guillermo even prouder when she became one of 35 women from a student body of 2,000 to be admitted to the prestigious National Preparatory School, or El Prepo, in Mexico City. She wanted to study medicine, but upon arriving to the vibrant intellectual center of her country, she discovered political activists, artists, communists, and other people who dared to dream and question. Lopping off her hair and switching to overalls from the drab outfits of a good Catholic girl, Frida fell in with the Cachets, a group of pranksters led by Alejandro Gómez. One of the Cachets’ victims of trickery was a tall and fat muralist, Diego Rivera, who was commissioned by the school to paint its auditorium. Spunky Frida stopped at nothing to annoy Rivera, 20 years her senior. She and the Cachets soaped the stairs so Diego would slip and fall, stole his lunch, and popped water balloons over his head. Only years later would her taunting and teasing of Diego evolve into a love affair.

In 1925, Kahlo suffered the bus crash and turned to art during her recovery. During this period, Alejandro never returned her letters. After one frustrating year of prolific painting and painful progress, she encountered Diego again when he was working on a mural in Mexico City. Summoning him impetuously from his spot high near the roof, she asked his honest, unflattering opinion of her work. Rivera inspected her canvas and told her, "Keep it up, little girl." Then he asked if she had any more, and Kahlo seized the opportunity to invite him to the Blue House to show off the rest of her work. Critics have often said that the two artists had a lot in common, with their love of iconoclasm and Mexico being among the strongest bonds. In 1929, when Kahlo was 22 and Rivera 42, the two were married in the Coyocán courthouse, though Kahlo’s mother did not attend the wedding because she hoped her daughter could find a more attractive, conventional match. Kahlo officially retained her own name, and the newlyweds moved into a stylish house in Mexico City shared by some other communists. Later that same year, Kahlo became pregnant, though she had an abortion because her damaged body could not handle the pregnancy without putting her own life at risk. Her repeated inability to have children was a source of pain for Kahlo, who expressed this frustration in her paintings through the major themes of childbirth, blood and fertility.

In 1930, Kahlo went with her husband to America. During this time, and for much of her conjugal life with Rivera, Kahlo did not receive recognition as an artist in her own right. "Wife of the master mural painter gleefully dabbles in works of art," read one headline when the couple visited Detroit. Rivera was used to being the center of attention, and he often neglected Kahlo for his art — not to mention for numerous extramarital trysts (one of the cruelest affairs Rivera had was with his wife’s own sister, Cristina). When Kahlo saw that she was second in line, she abandoned her own artistic aspirations and became a good housewife, bringing lunch to Rivera’s workplace and devotedly hanging around him. Unfortunately, these years proved to be some of Kahlo’s loneliest and unhappiest. Though she was good at keeping up appearances, always witty and charming in public, Kahlo intensely hated America, with its extremes of poverty and wealth. In addition, her withered right leg also made it difficult for her to keep up with Diego, as he rushed about from commission to commission. Nonetheless, Kahlo produced some great works during this period, specifically her first fantasy or symbolist paintings, including Self-Portrait on the Border Line.

The couple returned to Mexico in 1933, though not exactly in a state of marital bliss. Both Kahlo and Rivera had many extramarital affairs during this time. Among Kahlo’s many lovers — both male and female — was Leon Trotsky. Exiled from Russia by Stalin, Troktsy and his wife Natalia Sedova came to stay with Kahlo and Rivera at the Blue House in 1937 after the Mexican couple had moved back home. While Sedova and Rivera were in the hospital for various ailments, friendship, flirtation and ultimately romance grew between the spunky Kahlo and the older, gallant Trotsky. This romance inspired Kahlo to paint again, and she dedicated one of her numerous self-portraits to Trotsky. In 1938, Kahlo met André Breton, who helped arrange for some exhibits of her work. After a few minor exhibitions as well as one major solo exhibit at the Julian Levy Gallery of New York City, word about Kahlo’s art started to spread. Nickolas Muray, a photographer and future lover, set up the New York show for her, where she exhibited 25 paintings. She sold a number of them and returned to Mexico with jubilance. At 31, she was finally financially independent and established in her own career.

Art grows out of sacrifice, and Kahlo’s works were no exception. Rivera once called her art "agonized poetry," and Kahlo’s physical suffering and emotional loneliness indeed provided material for her primitivistic, Surrealist paintings. At the core of this agonized poetry were Kahlo’s unhappiness with and adoration of Rivera. When Kahlo and Rivera ultimately divorced in 1940, the periods before and after their separation were among Kahlo’s most difficult and most productive. Turning to religious symbolism and themes of death, Kahlo solidified her position among the Surrealists with continued support from Breton, though she allegedly denied any affiliation with the Surrealists. Whatever her official artistic designation, Kahlo was at last cherished as a respected artist and no longer simply considered Rivera’s girlish wife.

In the last decade of her life, Kahlo enjoyed a more peaceful existence, teaching for a while at the renowned Mexican art institute, La Esmeralda. Assailed by new health problems, this time with her spinal cord, Kahlo turned to her art as an outlet for her pain. Easel propped up, she painted directly from the hospital bed. In 1950, she returned to the Blue House, and a year later she and Rivera remarried. In 1953, Kahlo and her four poster bed were transported to Mexico City’s National Institute of Fine Arts for the first solo exhibit of her work in her homeland.

While Diego Rivera had greatly influenced her life, Kahlo’s distinct style eliminated any doubts that he might have influenced her art. Fragile and sensitive, Kahlo developed her own themes, her own form of fierce nationalism, and her own social consciousness. When she died in 1957, hundreds of admirers came to see the diminutive woman of great importance asleep in her coffin, flowers woven into her hair. Frida Kahlo werd geboren in Coyoacán, tegenwoordig een wijk van Mexico-stad, als dochter van een fotograaf. Ze wordt op zesjarige leeftijd, in 1913, getroffen door kinderverlamming aan haar rechterbeen. Dit is de bron van een aantal complexen die ze haar hele leven zal meedragen. Het enige naakt van haar dateert uit 1930 en toont haar zittend op een stoel, haar magere been onder het andere, zodat haar handicap niet opvalt. Het is geschilderd door haar echtgenoot Diego Rivera.

 

Op 17 september 1925 wordt de bus waarmee de dan zeventienjarige Kahlo door Mexico-stad rijdt aangereden door een tram. Een stuk stalen leuning dringt haar lichaam binnen door haar linkerzij en komt er langs haar vagina weer uit. Haar ribben en heup zijn gebroken, haar slechte been is op elf plaatsen gebroken, haar ruggengraat is op diverse plaats gebroken, en haar voet is verbrijzeld. Maandenlang moet ze in bed blijven, ingekapseld in pleisters en verband, vechtend tegen de pijn. Ze besluit om te gaan schilderen. Kahlo's moeder laat spiegels aan haar ziekbed vastmaken zodat zij zichzelf kan schilderen. Ondanks de hinder van korsetten en krukken komt ze na haar herstel terug buiten en zoekt ze vrienden op. Door het ongeluk dat haar bekken brak, kan ze geen voldragen kinderen baren. Een zwangerschap resulteert in een pijnlijke miskraam.

Op 21 augustus 1929 huwt Kahlo met Diego Rivera. Diens ex-vrouw, Lupe Marin, tracht het trouwfeest te verstoren. Kahlo's zus Christina bekent in de zomer van 1934 dat ze een verhouding heeft met Diego Rivera. Kahlo verlaat daarop Diego, maar het echtpaar hertrouwt na een heftige strijd alsnog op 8 december 1940. Het eigenaardig huwelijkscontract stipuleert echter dat Kahlo geen seksuele omgang meer hoeft te hebben met haar man. Later zou zij spreken van "twee zware ongelukken in mijn leven (...) één waarin een tram me aanreed, het andere was mijn man."

Kahlo en Rivera hadden veelvuldige buitenechtelijke affaires; Kahlo zowel met mannen als met vrouwen. Tot haar minnaars behoorden de naar Mexico gevluchte Russische revolutionair Leon Trotski, de New Yorkse fotograaf Nickolas Muray (1892-1965), die een serie indrukwekkende foto's van haar maakte, en de Japans-Amerikaanse landschapskunstenaar Noguchi.

Het paar was zeer actief in de Mexicaanse Communistische Partij (PCM). Nadat zij echter Trotski, die de Sovjet-Unie was ontvlucht, in huis opvingen, werden beiden uit de communistische partij uitgestoten. Kahlo bleef echter actief als communistisch activiste; nog een paar weken voor haar dood nam ze deel aan een demonstratie tegen de Amerikaanse inmenging in Guatemala.

Kahlo overleed in 1954, een briefje achterlatend met de tekst 'Ik hoop dat het einde vrolijk is en hoop nooit meer terug te keren'. Vermoedelijk heeft zij zelfmoord gepleegd.

Blue Velvet

Blazer: Essentiel Antwerp - Skirt: Chine Collection - T-shirt: H&M - Necklace: from Greece

I own this blue velvet blazer for a few years now. Can't help it, but I'm still crazy about it. I wore it on my first date with my boyfriend! I'm sure he can't remember though :p, but I do! It will stay with me forever, this is going to be an amazing vintage piece some day, I tell you! It also reminds me of the David Lynch movie every time I wear it. Did you ever see the movie? You should watch it!!! Timeless.

Oh and thank you boubou from Boubou teatime for linking my blog as 'blog qui a de l'avenir' Merci beaucoup!

It's good to be back

With more experience and a few pounds lighter :p. It's strange how I loose weight like crazy when I'm working a week full-time at the clinic. I was the biggest eater of the group though. I guess it's weightloss due to all the exciety and (positive) stress. There is been a lot going on this past week! Weekdays: the usual hospital patient care (my favourite patients were: Mirka, cocker spaniël with a severe demodex pyodermie and Juultje, Jack russel Terriër with 3 legs). In the weekend lots of emergency consults: intoxicated dogs, obstipated cats, dogs with acute kidney disease, paralysed dogs and large dogs with a gastric torsion. But it's good to be home cause I'm dead tired! Now I can sleep as much as I want :o HAPPY DANCE: :p

This is going to be a longer post, because I have much to tell in Dutch too. For the ones who asked, here are my pictures of my animals in formaldehyde. First one is Rudolf (horse embryo) and the second one is Wilbur (pig foetus).

My favourite blog of all blogs Luxirare made these pictures a while ago. It's a lollipop with a scorpio in it. Apparentely it's an aphrodisiacum: especially good for male's potential :p. I have never seen something like this before. And NOO i would never eat something this disgusting ieuw, but I would like to buy it as a piece for my collection.

 

Hehe :p. Anyway! What did I miss this week??? I don't know nothing about what happened in the world the past week! Please tell me! I saw that the amount of visitors of my blog/emails has increased, good news! If you guys want to ask me something , please go ahead!!! Don't hesitate to send me an email.

Is it true Alexander Mcqueen died?? :o What a lost for the fashionworld. Sad to loose such a creative mind. As you know, his shoes were my favourite! Speaking of fashion...This week i'm finally going to visit my sister who studies at the fashion school in Antwerp! I hope she has some time for me. Otherwise I will spend my time with a little shopping :) and a good diner. I'm still on the hunt for strrrripes and leopard patterns :p

I found some pictures of what's in my opinion the most creative collection of 2010! The ghosthands from the Hussein Chalayan collection.

And this baby is my favourite shoe for this week, it's like a painting, gorgeous! -Robert Clergerie-

And how was your Valentine's Day??? Mine has still to come yay! I finally finally see my boyfriend tonight. We have a lot to celebrate actually: my boyfriend entered school again, I passed my Laboratory science exam and our Valentine's day ofcourse. SECOND HAPPY DANCE :). Hope to blog tomorrow! Byeeee! -x- la fille

PS: sorry for the horrible english! As soon as I'm graduated i'll follow english courses, I promise!

Dutch:

Pff engels typen gaat zo tergend traag bij mij. Ja ik ben echt van plan na mijn studies opnieuw wat mijn talen bij te schaven (nooit echt een talenknobbel geweest) wante...het is soms erg plus ik wil écht verschillende talen vlot kunnen spreken. Misschien eerst wat aan mijn frans en engels werken. Daarna zou ik graag nog italiaans of spaans bijleren. Mijn vriend kent redelijk wat spaans, ik ben zooo jaloers op hem :) hihi.

Ja het is goed om terug thuis te zijn zeg :). Weer deftig eten en slapen! Mijn Peempje terugzien! De diertjes op de dierenkliniek compenseren natuurlijk een deel van het gemis. En echt, er zaten schatjes bij. Juultje bijvoorbeeld, een Jack Russel reutje waarbij ze een zenuwtumor + een deel van zijn bekken + een achterpoot weggehaald hadden. Hij was er redelijk erg aan toe (ENORM veel pijn zelfs met morfine, domitor, ketamine, ...) en de vrees dat hij niet meer ging kunnen lopen/het niet ging halen was er zeker. Tot we deze week de verdoving afbouwden en hij plots recht in zijn kotje stond zonder janken. We lieten hem buiten en hij liep gewoonweg perfect op zijn 3 pootjes. Echt spectaculair want dat zag er echt lelijk uit vanachter. Dat was dus voor iedereen een zalig moment. Er waren natuurlijk ook veel triestige momenten. Baasjes die horen dat ze hun dier beter laten euthanaseren bv. Er was een man die totaal instortte en die we echt moesten begeleiden en troosten. Hij deed ook wel een beetje vreemd want hij was van plan om eerst nog met zijn hond 'naar de ceremonie te gaan om contact te leggen met haar om te vragen wat zij ervan vond' en hij vroeg 'of hij het vel mocht hebben om te laten opzetten en of wij zo iemand kenden die dat kon' hmm ja..Dit allemaal met tussentijdse huilbuien en totaal van de kaart zijn.

Ik vind het altijd moeilijk om in zo'n situaties het 'juiste' te zeggen en gepast te communiceren. Maar tegelijk heb ik na zo'n weken altijd een ontzettende voldoening: je leert heel veel op alle vlak, je leert communiceren met alle lagen van de bevolking, je voelt je nuttig omdat je iets doet voor iemand. En dat is wat ik altijd in een job/studie zocht eigenlijk. Ik kan er zo hard op vloeken maar evenveel zo blij zijn met de keuze. En moest ik dit niet gekozen hebben dan zou ik zeker humane geneeskunde, verpleegster, vroedvrouw of sociaal assistente ofzoiets gekozen hebben. Dé zaligste beroepen gewoonweg. Gezondheid van mens/dier gaat gewoonweg boven alles. En natuurlijk heb ik ook héél veel respect voor alle andere beroepen ook.

Maar wat ik iedereen toewens is: een passie. Een passie voor gelijk wat. Ik weet dat vele jonge mensen (en steeds meer & langer) nog op zoek zijn naar juist dàt tikkeltje meer in hun leven. Iets waar ze voor leven. Ik ben ook lang op zoek geweest eigenlijk. Toch mijn gevoel altijd gevolgd en daar ben ik blij om. Het ultieme is als je je werk niet meer ziet als je werk maar iets wat je gewoon moet doen, niet zonder kan & waarvoor je geboren lijkt te zijn.

Ok, en nu ga ik eten want mijn maag rammelt. Alle reacties zijn welkom!