Last minute stress caused by others and I'd like to kill him !

Can you believe some people ??

I so hate namedropping/attention seeking personalities...OK, before you even start on me...I'm an attention seeker too - even on a weekly or daily basis - but I'm not the type to ruin someone's holiday even before he/she is on that plane !

This morning after hubby and I read our newspaper and listened to the morning news, we went down to have some coffee (black for him) and breakfast (eggs, OJ, bread still warm and a variety of cheese and fine meats, cappuccino for me), hubby took his cranberry out of his pocket and said in a very serious way, I have some BAD news !!

OMG, my stomach shrunk in a second, my heart started beating in my throat and I became even paler then I already was...

A guy who works for hubby, let's call him Mr Lake, announced by email he had to stay home cause there might be a chance of him having the swine flu !!!

(now in that Achmed, the dead terrorist voice) : I kill you !!

Just this morning the news was announced a 34 year old healthy woman, died of the swine flu here in Belgium.

Shock and horror cause it seems like, when you are young (under 40 and I'm still under 40, I really am !) you're immune system seems to be getting to work harder once the virus has hit you... Older people (people from the 1930ies, 40-ies and 50-ies) have something in their system that KO's the virus faster.

The message of Mr Lake also suggested everybody who'd been near him these last couple of days, should go to a pharmacy and ask for 'Tamiflu'...

Now, in Belgium, you just don't get any pill like that and I called our local pharmacy to check if we needed any prescription. What do you think ? Of course we needed some !

...( hate the Lake guy even more at this point) ... and I said to hubby in a rage how the hell we should have the time to go the doctor's with not a single suitcase packed yet and we still need to do some last minute errands. 

My brother in law needs stuff while he's housesitting for us and I don't want the poor bast*rd to have empty cupboards (or only filled with puffed potato crips) ; also will he need a room stashed with kitty cat goodies, foods etc. ... to pamper our 2 cats while we are gone.

...

When I came to think about it, if I was to die on holiday I could already see the obituary in my mind...Dominica born in Lier, Antwerp, Belgium - Died Capri, Italy ...sounds intriging no ?

I immediately thought about a book I once read by Connie Palmen, called Lucifer, that was based on the true story of Marina Schapers, a Dutch actress who died in Greece. In the book she fell off  a cliff...

No wouldn't it be so much more 'drama' to hear someone fell off a cliff instead of 'she died of Miss Piggy flu ...??'

...

So back to the cheesed*ck who gave us some extra stress.

Hubby tried then to call our doctor who lives on the left bank to see if we could have a last minute appointment.

Now, this doctor's last name is Claus..(I'm not kiddin') and I could almost drag him through the phone and give him a big smoochy cause he was Santa Claus for a moment to me.

Keep it cool he said. If I had to take those pills everytime I came in contact with a sneezer or nose-drippin' patient...I would have to take Tamiflu every day, twice !

So no worries, you would have had the symptoms by now cause it's like +48 hours since you had contact with the guy.

...

Thanks Doc ! For not taking advantage of a woman with some panic attacks and great nervousness since she's going to fly (and puke) pretty soon !

My BFF stashed me with some Xanax, Movicol (do put in a stinky plane neighbour's drink who needs too much space ; he will be on the toilet the entire flight !! Extra space for me ! Yay !!)

Chocolate-nuts comfort binge eating cookies to eat away any stress that might occur before/during/after the flight (then comes the boat).

...

I'll let you guys in on any Xanax story as I am a Xanax virgin.

So forgive me if the first handwritten postcard will be drousy or full of crap.

So still 1 day left to mail me your shipping/post address to get that exclusive Capri card !**

For those who don't Twitter but still like to see any picture of the Isle, click on the Twitter-link in the sidebar of my blog.

Receivers of handwritten cards promised me to post about them on their blog ! You are diamonds to me (mwuuuuaaaaah)

**mail to : ohdeer@skynet.be (before Saturday night CET)

This postgirl always rings twice !!

Tingeling !

Tingeling !

.....

Calling out ! If you guys/girls like to receive a handwritten postcard from Capri or Sorrento (after 3 days they will kick me of the island of Capri because I Twittered too many pics of Sophia Loren or something..) please, email your address to ohdeer@skynet.be BEFORE Friday !

I'll promise to keep you guys updated on a daily base and hope that, the day you will receive my card, you will mention it in your blog or sidebar...(or even on Twitter...why not)

I'm afraid that out of sight will be out of your bloggie-hearts...(doin' a thing with my lashes now - blink blink)

Thank you !!

PS If you prefer a special picture on this card, nude Italian girl - guy on vespa - Italian food - the Pope ....let me know !

Sunday's almost over ...

My 2 fav things : chocolate & blogging 

I used this mag as my mousemat ...:-)

commenting on your blogs ...

We've been to the coast for the day, had a sleepover and I saw Kill Bill yesterday evening...Wow, Uma Thurman is really cool and sexy in that movie. Great shape !! 

I never understood what she saw in her ex-husband, that Ethan guy ...he kinda gives me the creeps (something to do with his teeth, don't ask - you know what I mean ..the 1 tooth you keep looking at when having a first date with a guy...)

Anyway..I'm sitting here on the terrace, forsaking Dr House, my medical tv crush after Dexter a couple of months ago, and read all your blogs I didn't read yet during the weekend.

I feel a bit melancholic, not like a week or 2 ago, that was a really sad but great evening, no, it's silly really, I always feel like that when things come to an end or are about to change.

The Tour de France has ended today, Alberto Contador is the # 1 and I sure will miss Lance Armstrong's comments during the event on Twitter ...

He's just amazing, driving this tour and still twitting along and being this positive !

Brilliant guy ...

...

Dominica, cheers ! Thanks a lot !

Since we are in the holiday season, I'd like you to enjoy the following vid I posted.

It's one of the best Ab Fab ones, where Pats & Edina are visiting Morocco ..

If you watch it you will get a look in how I like to be dressed when I'm 50 ..:-)

50 seconds into the video shows us a fab looking Patsy with huge sunglasses, a screen and marvelous hat !

At 1:20 = you can compare this situation between Edina and Saffy to India and me..she thinks I always wanna make a fool of myself (and I probably do but just to annoy her...).

The bird scene in the 2:05 minute is just hilarious LOL just as her reaction to Saffy and the food that is being cooked in the 2:35 minute.

When you're still with us in 4:47 and 5:01 I just wanna say these sunglasses are so Diane !!

I can totally see her with the scarf, glasses and long hair sitting and enjoying the Moroccan culture ...

...

Have a great weekend ! After work I'm off again for 1 day of sun at the seaside ; hope I don't get sunburned (again) ...

Absolutely Fabulous Morocco Part 3 Best Ab Fab Episode Ever. - The most amazing bloopers are here

Celebrate (part deux) - Pics of Surprise party on July 11th

SURPRISE !! I literally had to push him inside ! He wanted to smoke a cigarette outside first but we had to wait SO long for Mr. C to appear (high maintenance, he his - ai papi !!) I almost smacked him in the face ...INSIDE you go Mister !! (click on pic to see a larger version of his sheepy face)

Look honey, it says you have to love your wife every day and buy her all she wants !! ;-)

The interior of the Artist ; it based on a French Brasserie in Paris ...

Anouk & Barbara & Raymond

Happy Birthday to you !

Mr. C opens up his gifts ; he doesn't look cranky now, does he ?? :-)

WTF ?

My BFF Hilary and me ....you see, I click more with my overseas females than anyone else down here ...

Holiday ! Celebrate !

I've read this hilarious article in my weekly mag : I will try to translate some of it ...it put a smile on my face when I read it ...

...

Stay home ! The merriest holiday tips !

Where shall we spend our holiday this year ? If this is a question that pops up several times a year whilst sitting at the kitchen table, you belong to 9% of the population that can afford an annual holiday.

It al starts with choosing your destination. Flipping through a pile brochures seems like a fun thing to do with the whole family. If you agree with the previous sentence, you've probably never looked into one !

Experienced holiday-travellers know that a manuscript of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce is easier to read than an average travel-brochure. For example, if the hotel mentions 'beach within walking distance' that probably means you are supposed to be used to walk/run the 10 miles of Antwerp each year ! Friendly staff means the waiters won't spit in your food before serving and Children's animation could be just a rusty swing hidden away somewhere near a busy road or your children will be supervised by a 17 year old Vicki Pollard kinda girl that giggled her way into the job.

Some of us think they can bypass these problems by sleeping in a tent on a camping ; grow up !

It's ok to camp out when you're 12, not when you're 36 unless you are homeless, victim of an act of God or you belong to a Bedouin tribe.

...

If you're in the hotel business the golden rule = the guest must have the feeling he's the first person ever to enter and sleep in (t)his room.

This counts for every kind of hotel ; 5 ***** or B&B.

Nevertheless, this has nothing to do with luxury but everything with providing a safe, clean and comfortable environment. Luxury defines the price of a hotel room ; maintenance, pureness and hygiene the quality.

I've slept in hotelrooms where the carpet came right out of a Nord-African prison cell and in a London 3*** hotel I found a pile of porn magazines and balls of used Kleenex...In an Amsterdam hotel I found some soap in the bathroom with enough hair on it to make a 'toupet'.

Ew !!

Luckily hygiene is absolute priority to most hotels.

...

Could we make a deal not to pee in the pool please ?

I'm sure you are all thinking to yourselves ; been there, done it !

OK, I admit, I've done some pee-pee too - mea culpa !

But I stopped once I found out what's also to be found in swimming accomodations.

Saliva, tissue, tallow, that time of the month-leftovers, sweat, slime, hairs, nose-droppings and cosmetics.

You see, there's enough to fill the pool with ; we don't need your input !

Can you understand why chlorine was ever invented ?

...

Who had this massive idea in ever inventing the tanga (bikini) ??

Sure some of us can get away with this little piece of fabric but realise for every nice butt there are 25 ugly ones !!

And thongs for men are a no-no !! We are not even going to discuss that !

...

Food !

Never EVER enter a restaurant that has pictures of food displayed on it's window !

It only means your illiterate, illegal Albanian sous-chef only knows what dish he must take out of the freezer to warm up in his microwave !!

Also avoid restaurants where they presume you are German.

Germans are known to be the wealthiest European citizans and pay twice as much as any other European !

Always ask for a seat/table near the window ; people passing by always look at what you are eating and the cook will make sure the biggest steak is to be seen on YOUR plate.

...

Holiday sex !

Statistics say that heterosexual women older than 25, decide to have sex on holiday.

75% sleeps with hotel staff ; only 10% with another tourist.

Heterosexual men older than 25, decide to have some international 'rumpy pumpy' with 99,99% of any woman that is up for it. Hiding the salami is a popular game abroad !

...

Horror Horror !

Nothing can bother me more than compatriots who want to talk to me - no matter what !

As long as it stays innocent and the chit-chat is about the weather or 'when are you headed back?' I don't really care ...

Worst case scenario, you end up in their newly built home, 2 weeks after your holdiday, 'enjoying' a BBQ specially organised for you, to talk about the past holiday and look at hundreds of pictures while you are thinking to yourself "how the hell did I end up here?"..

Can I just give you this one good advice ?

Never ever give your phonenumber, emailaddress or (the stupidest of all) your home address !

It's very simple ; when I'm on holiday, leave me TF alone except you are the proud owner of a villa in Malibu or Sydney..

I've got tagged and now I welcome you into my house !

Thanks to Mr Condescending, I wrote this latest post ...

Invitation to our Pink Party (dresscode ; what do you think ?) at 8PM, our place ....

...

I know, some of you my raise some eyebrows now, but I've done some 'dresscode' parties in the past and it may look silly in the beginning but FABULOUS on those pictures ... !!

Hey, come in and be our guests for the night ...Wow, you guys and girls look amazing !

Let's have a drink and toast to everybody and the good life we are living and to be surrounded by such good friends...

This was the hardest thing to show you guys .... we have LOADS of music and both hubby and me are music freaks. We buy our i-tunes from time to time but still prefer the real thing.

I guess we don't have a particular style ; we love anything from Led Zeppelin to Mozart, 60-ies music aswell as 80-ies music, OST's or loungy ... you name it !

And we can't forget some good Belgian groups like dEUS, Hooverphonic or Soulwax ...

Take a look and enjoy ... whatever you want to hear, we will play it with pleasure for you.

That's the reason I asked a friend to be our DJ for the night.

These are my recently bought dvd's ; still have to watch them or re-watch them...(can't wait to see Saturday Night Fever again !)

In our house, books can be found everywhere !

I always tell hubby we need extra lives to read all the books we have.

I like reading bio's - books on trending topics and I also love reading magazines.

The one mag I bought since the day it was published over more than 10 years ago, is LIVING.

It reflects who I am ...every time it comes out and I see it on a bookstand, my day just can't go wrong.

It really makes my day. I buy a lot of magazines but eventually I throw them away or give them to friends so they get into a recycling circle. Remember, every piece of paper used to hang on a tree. LIVING magazine is the only one I keep ; I still have all issues and by now I guess I must have something like 75. It comes out every 2 months. So, be my guest and take a look at them...a smile will appear on your face ...

This is my all time fav book : it's Salt on our skin and it's written by Benoîte Groult.

She's a feministic writer and that reflects the stories in her books. The women are strong characters but without losing their classy femininity.

I just LOVE bread ...almost as much as my first cup of comfort in the morning.

I had to think about what I would serve my guests but I have to say that I'm in love with Italian food an the way it's prepared. Food is love, so watch out !!

The good thing is that Italians are masters in 'honest cooking' ..each ingredient is seen and it's not covered up with heavy sauces. That's why I'd like to start with all kinds of freshly baked breads and little cups filled with the richest of olive oils. You just dip the bread in ... no knives to spread butter ; just use your hands and try the various oils and breads ...

A great starter is freshly made fishsoup. Look at all those treasures from the sea.

It's a full bowl of deliciousness and saltiness...I would serve this in little cute bowls, not too big - just a handful. The bread that is available around the house can be used to dip in it.

The great thing about those little bowls is - people can walk around the house, onto the terrace and back in, mingle and get to know each other ...

Italians eat their pasta before their main course and this is what I would like to offer you too.

Simple and pure ingredients ; linguine cooked 'al dente' and just moist and greasy enough due to the freshly made (green) pesto.

The food is accompagnied by an Amarone wine ...This wine is special cause it's made of dried grapes but nevertheless doesn't taste sweet. It has great 'body' ...

As a main course I would make 'Anatra con broccoli' or duck breast with broccoli ...

For all my UK blogosphere friends a little 'clin d'oeil' cause the recipe is originally made with Worcestersauce. Italians change this ingredient to Balsamico but I prefer the original one.

The picture shows us how crisp and juicy the duck meat must be ... Now, I won't forget any vegetarian to be my guest ; they can enjoy the pasta and all the veggies in this course too ...

This must be my favourite dessert of all time : espuma. I've learned to appreciate this heavenly foamy 'dolci' in a sympa little resto in Antwerp and every time I came in to have dinner at the place, I always made sure the last one was reserved for me .....

Music will be loungy late night - Hotel Costes and Blue Blot ... to end this warm evening, we will smoke cigars on our terrace with a view of the Museum in front of us ...

Because the weather would be GOOD ...

we are at the coast...

Now this morning, I feel a bit naïve, cause they promised us sun, sun and sun and 27°C and here I am, looking outside at raindrops ...

I so hate that when the forecast guy predicts everything wrong.

I can see some clear blue sky in a far distance but it doesn't look very promising.

I'm leaving you with a few pics of Sebastian, hubby cooking and us sun worshipping ...

...

If you are wondering where India is ; she and her girlfriend are hiding ; it's not cool to walk close to mom these days (sigh)

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS (part deux) Inspired by That Blue Yak

OMG ! I laughed so hard with today's new blogpost of Dr Zibbs . Seeing this Corey Feldman guy making an utter fool of himself with his bad lip-syncing and dance moves ...

You really have to watch this video out, if you didn't see it already.

Now, I got so inspired ; the hair, the moves, the outfit and most of all the BAD music (he had something in common with MJ ... Corey was just plain BAD), I went through some archives of European pop and look what I came up with.

Milli Vanilli : a group that looked ok in those days, the moves look hilarious now but the thing that really s*cked was that they didn't sing AT ALL. When the story broke, 1 of those guys, was so upset, killed himself over it ! Talk about some drama !

Now drama is an understatement with the next German group ; Modern Talking.

I've watched the entire +7 minutes video (it's a mix ; yay !) and I couldn't help but giving some extra comments too ...

In the first 36 seconds, notice how the blonde guy is doing his 'I have to go to the loo-move but I forgot just before we got onstage'

And what's with the hair of the leadsinger ..could it be a cover up for his ears ?

Into the 1:12 the leadsinger gets an attitude, repeated in the 1:36 and over again in the 1:43...

Also, the neighbour of Vic, must have found great inspiration in the gazing balls in this video ...so Vic, that's where he got the idea ; blame it on Modern Talking !!

Further into the video, you also will notice the hair becomes longer, and longer and LONGER !

At 3:22 the attitude becomes even worse ; the guy clearly was making his first statement here ; glossy lips ! (nice colour though)

The second statement is made into 5:31 by wearing a 'carrie bradshaw avant la lettre-necklace' saying NORA. In other words ; it's not because I wear lipgloss I'm gay..I'm with Nora and this is my way of saying I love her ...

Yeah right !

6:34 brings us full option mullet fashion and further on Nora's baby is wearing pink trousers ; cause real guys can wear it off.

...

Hope you enjoyed the videos and have a wonderful weekend !

Modern Talking MegaMix - Click here for more free videos

Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True (Top of the Pops) - The most amazing bloopers are here

Pics of the week !

Just a quick impression of this weeks events ; the weather was nice and warm. We could eat and drink a LOT outside, just the 2 of us or with friends ...

The little doll you see in front of the museum is my latest weakest link.

Pat from the Artist, had bought 4 of them and said he would display them on top of his washingmachine !! I think I made a squeaky sound the instant I saw them and yesterday I went over to the Clinic (Burburestraat) conceptstore to get me a monkey, a kitten and a rabbit.

They are brotherly standing next to each other on my own machine now !

Can't wait to see their heads shake and headbang when the device does it's work !

Maybe I'll have to film that ... :-)

PS special message to Diane ; could you give me the link to the blog you mentioned ?

Thanks ever so much !