Life and its little pleasures

Construction

For the last 2 months, Mike and I have been trying to redecorate his apartment in Queens before I move in. Some big works (completely new bathroom, knock down a wall) and some do-it-yourself stuff (painting, scraping, sanding, moving).

I forgot to take pictures before we started doing the work, but I made these two videos with about half of the work done. You can see the half painted living room, the kitchen after we knocked down the wall, the new bathroom with the missing sink/vanity, the almost completely finished bedroom and the finished hobby room, now serving as a storage until the end of the works.

As soon as the contractor shows up again (he has been missing for 2 weeks now) and the bathroom is done, I'll post a video of the after.

And maybe another video one once my stuff is moved in and everything is organized. Not sure when that will be as I still have my apartment in Manhattan until August and I might rent it out furnished for a few months or to vacationers.

Let me know what you think.

Breaking up

She: "YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME"

He: "Leave me alone! Get away from me! LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE"

She: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please, please, you can't do that to me"

He: "I told you to leave me alone, I have had it with you"

And then he stormed out and left her in the hallway crying her eyes out while her two dogs were going crazy barking.

This is what Mike and I witnessed Saturday night while watching old episodes of Freaks and Geeks. The walls in my building are not exactly built like a fortress and you can pretty much hear everything the neighbors are up to. So when they start screaming, it's like being in the middle of it. So if you are a bit sadist like we are, you tend to sit a bit closer to the wall and try to hear every last word that is being said. Although we were laughing silently at first, muting the television and eavesdropping like crazy, we started feeling a bit scared.

He was screaming louder and louder. She was crying harder and harder. The dogs were barking more crazy every minute. What if he would hit her? Mike got dressed again (we were in bed by this time) and said he would intervene if he dared hit her (my baby is one tough cookie). It seems like she met his ex-wife for the first time that night while they were out and she got a jealousy attack. He wasn't dealing with it very well and pretty much decided that he was not going to stay around any longer. Even though we started the evening laughing a bit about the things going on next door, it wasn't that fun anymore towards the end. He was gone and she was crying and crying and probably cried herself to sleep.

Breaking up sucks big time.

Happy

Sometimes everything just feels right in my life. I love my job, I live in the greatest place on earth, I'm in love with a wonderful guy, my health seems to ok, I feel loved, my friends are the best in the world, my football team keeps winning in the UEFA cup (Go Standard de Liege!) and the little things in life make me smile...

Ahhh, life and its little pleasures!

Update

Complaints from the homefront on the lack of updates, so here in a photo overview some of the things I have been up to in the last couple of months.

Watching two games at the US Open at Flushing Meadows in Queens:  
 

Discovering New York's West side (Hudson River):
 
 

Playing baseball at the batting cages at Chelsea Pier:
 

Enjoying my neighborhood (Flat Iron):
 

Going to Las Vegas for work (view from Bellagio hotel):
 

Admiring Berlinde De Bruyckere's art with Tuur and Mike:

Celebrating my birthday with my best friends in New York. (yes, this included karaoke...): 
 

Getting awesome presents (including flowers, Trivial Pursuit - the 90's edition, Yoga-lessons, books, DVDs, drum sticks, vodka, concert tickets, sexual positions-card game, ...)
 

Visiting the Bronx with Phil:
 

Flying to Miami with the girls for the weekend (including Sarah):
 

Celebrating Halloween with Mike and Hilary (with some awesome fake knife wounds!):
 
 
 

Watching Carlos (monkey) for a week:
 

Making Carbonades a la Flamande for the office Potluck lunch:
 

Celebrating Hilary's birthday (with Katy in town!!):
 

Right... That should cover a lot of it. More later on the awesome Thanksgiving weekend.

Atlantic City

After a busy, but fun week in Europe (London and Belgium), I drove down to Atlantic City, NJ for the weekend. So much fun! A fairly nice hotel, great company, the most decadent meal ever (6 pound lobster and steak!), a little bit of gambling, lots of staying in bed and heaps of saltwater taffy. What more could a girl wish for!

The boardwalk is quite nice off season. It reminds me a bit of the Belgian coast in the early 80s.

Blog

It's been quiet here lately, but I have been blogging on one of the Standaard blogs: In alle Staten. mostly about the elections and what is going on around here.

Once that is all done, I promise to devote more time here again!

So exciting today!!! I feel like I am watching history unfold right in front of me. Or around me. It will be a very emotional night. Let's just hope it will be the good emotions.

Flying

First a great evening with wonderful friends in the East Village (more on that later) and then a full day with two of my best friends doing this!!!:

And after that a dinner in the Rainbow Room in the top of the Rockefeller Center. See the slideshow below. 

Best Birthday ever!!!

The video and some of the pictures were taken by Sean 'johnny knoxville' Tillery.
 

An office with a view

The boss's:

Mine:

 

Long way to go...

Gotham

Only in New York...

If you want to read stories about New York, check out the Gotham Observer, a new blog.
From the about page: "This is a collection of the personal tales and the history and the odd happenings and activities of Gotham".

Very funny read! (They should get familiar with the Wordpress style/design options though).

Ikea-furniture-assembly-injury

Auch. Damn you Expedit book case.