Cos it's all a little random...

Blue skies

2011-04-29T08:59:00.001+01:00

My Thursday afternoon ice-cream break from work and sadly my last day in Venice. Beautiful weather and sky so blue it looks fake! Love this place.

Across the water

2011-04-28T08:55:00.001+01:00

Yes I know, more Venice! But simply can't help it! On Wednesday I took a detour to walk - too much of a pleasure to wake up early and stroll to the office :-D

Venetian corners

2011-04-27T08:52:00.000+01:00

Tuesday morning's walk to the office!

This morning I ate ice cream for breakfast

2011-04-27T07:13:00.000+01:00

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection

2011-04-26T18:56:00.000+01:00

Right back atcha

2011-04-25T18:53:00.000+01:00

Venice

2011-04-24T18:48:00.003+01:00

Venice is so crazily unique and different it kinda drives your eyes mad and sometimes you just don't know where to look anymore. Love it.

Burano, Venice

2011-04-24T07:31:00.000+01:00

If you have read this then it's nothing new but Burano is serious beautiful!

Camera

2011-04-13T07:07:00.000+01:00

I just landed in Venice and my camera is broken. Can't think of anything more torturous than being here and not being able to take pictures ...

Hub Madrid

2011-04-12T17:56:00.001+01:00

So I might be in Madrid for work (visiting Hub Madrid; the sister Hub to where I work here in Brussels) but it doesn't mean it can't be dam beautiful!

Ole' Madrid

2011-03-27T17:57:00.004+01:00

Just walking round the neighborhood where I'm staying in Madrid. Sunshine in winter does wonders for the soul!

The neighborhood

2011-03-19T20:21:00.000Z

Did you know that Chaussee de Waterloo goes all the way to Waterloo?

2011-03-18T17:29:00.000Z

Shopping at a giant junk/thrift/vintage market in Waterloo with Leire.

Hallllo

2011-03-17T17:27:00.001Z

Dreaming for summer

2011-03-15T17:15:00.001Z

Last summer in France

Basque reflections

2011-03-14T05:22:00.000Z

Planter le bâton ....

2011-03-13T16:25:00.004Z

Skiing with the Military school for a bit in France; it's good for the soul!

:-D

2011-03-13T09:59:00.000Z

Ali

2011-02-20T22:01:00.000Z

Happy birthday Ali!

(not so) Little Miss Cupcake

2011-02-04T22:18:00.003Z

The cupcake empire is slowly growing and taking over the kitchen and what remains of my weekend. Planning on baking 250+ cakes tomorrow and accordingly just headed out to the shop to buy 5 kilos of butter ... have you ever seen 5 kilos of butter in a pile ... it's kind of horrid. Much thanks for Nick for the incredible logo he surprised us with this week. We love it!

Evening walk home

2011-01-26T19:25:00.002Z

Long day at work but a nice walk home. Kinda forgot I owed a camera in the past couple of weeks ... kinda sucks when that happens!

Return "home"

2011-01-23T20:06:00.004Z

I could not be more excited about the upcoming trip that has spontaneously appeared in my calendar for next weekend! Work has been crazy the past three weeks and with so much running through my head I cannot wait to escape back to Aix-en-Provence to celebrate Lilou's 25th birthday with some of the coolest people I know! Aix, hold onto your hat, cos I'm coming!

House corners

2011-01-22T12:54:00.000Z

Filey Beach

2011-01-19T16:39:00.000Z

B&W beach

2011-01-13T12:30:00.001Z

You've gotta be kidding ... more snow?!

2011-01-11T13:30:00.002Z

Snowy walks

2010-12-28T20:58:00.006Z

Have your cake ... and eat it too!

2010-12-24T11:39:00.001Z

Last Christmas

2010-12-23T11:35:00.004Z

Introducing Munthof 2010

2010-12-12T16:43:00.006Z

A few lift booth photos of my (ace of base) flat mates. Breaking news; Bieke is no longer pregnant; she had a beautiful baby boy on Friday at 12.27! As yet he is nameless; but he's hairy and so crazily tiny. I'm (naively?) excited about baby life ... going to be an adventure!

All photos by Natalie Hill

Snowy Brussels

2010-12-12T16:26:00.003Z

The scariest experience of my life!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-07T23:46:00.005Z

On Monday I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to work as a translator for a Belgian cartoonist called Pierre Kroll; he's a bit of a legend here in the Benelux political world (so don't be too heart broken if you're like ... "who!!"). Anyway, there was a big conference organised by European Commission here in Brussels called European Development Days where he (and I) were invited to illustrate (well I wasn't doing any drawing ... he didn't even let me touch his rubber) debates lead by heads of state and major political figures from all the world. He was illustrating the debates live and then I was translating his "bubbles" from French to English for the audience to understand.

Sometimes I take a step back from my life and wonder how the hell I ended up doing what I'm doing. I don't mean this at all in a bad way; work, travel and opportunity wise every day is an incredible gift but sometimes I can't help but chuckle and think how truly random life can be.

All photos by EDD

Flowers ;-)

2010-11-30T16:42:00.003Z

I went out to take photos on Saturday and it was too cold for me to take my hands out of my pockets. I thought I'd moved to Brussels not Siberia ...

Provencal dreams

2010-11-27T20:45:00.000Z

Brussels is turning out to be a pretty ace place to live. It's been really hard to get my head around the fact that I'm here permanently and not having to pack my bags in 3 or 6 months like per usual. Despite the Brussels lovin' there is still something about the South of France and the promise of almost eternal sunshine that I miss terribly, not to mention the militaires! There really is nothing better than a quaint Provencal village.

Knives kill

2010-11-26T18:08:00.005Z

”To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…”

Thanks Nat.

Lift booth

2010-11-22T19:15:00.004Z

Just some of the amazing photos taken in our lift style photo booth with Natalie! See the rest of the incredible photo stream here!

Pop up photo booth

2010-11-22T10:39:00.000Z

This weekend I organised a pop up photo booth in an lift with a great local photographer called Natalie. I love planning for crazy events at work. I'm so excited to see how the photos turned out ....

Lunch on Saturday

2010-11-21T10:32:00.001Z

HUB

2010-11-21T08:58:00.001Z

We'll if I can't take photos outside of work I might as well take them of work ;-) I have about 6 films waiting to be developed but I can't afford to get them developed here in Belgium .... 20 euros for a film ... who are they kidding!#@ oh well it means I get to have a very fun trip to the film store when I'm back in England in January!

Blue/green/orange week

2010-11-19T11:32:00.000Z

(not so) Little Miss Cupcake

2010-11-14T19:48:00.005Z

A few random photos to illustrate the building of a cupcake empire! 130 eggs, 6 kilos of butter, and god knows how many bags of flour ... never again do I want to see that many eggs (well until next month where we have to bake another 300 cakes).

Cupcake

2010-11-13T20:52:00.002Z

Yet another excuse for not taking enough photos but I've been busy building a cupcake empire with my friend Leire! We baked, iced and sold over 250 cakes on Sunday and although it was great fun I now don't want to see another cake for a while ;-)

Hidden corners

2010-11-06T12:43:00.000Z

Say cheese

2010-11-05T08:54:00.000Z

Paris always has the best street art.

B&W walk to work

2010-11-01T18:36:00.004Z

Halloween (part1)

2010-10-31T14:32:00.005Z

Michiel's Halloween party in Antwerp blew my expectations right out of the water; Belgium you did me proud!

Work

2010-10-28T22:20:00.006+01:00

I never thought I'd be one of those people whose lives got taken over by work and who just surfaced on weekends and then disappeared back into an abyss of paperwork behind a computer screen. Well to a certain extend that is now true ... i.e. work seriously interferes with a social life and means I can't have excessive lie ins on a daily basis ... however work is crazy and creative and is probably making my life a better place to be so I don't feel too sorry for myself ;-)

Happy Birthday Chlo ♥♥♥

2010-10-18T19:00:00.003+01:00

Welcome Home

2010-10-11T21:05:00.005+01:00

Doesn't give a thing away does it ... but I got to mess around for 10 minutes with my camera before tea was ready. Now I'm peckish!

Hello I'm analog

2010-10-08T09:24:00.001+01:00

Barbara was nice enough to invite me to contribute to here analog film project "Hello I'm analog" and this is the first of a few photos I'll hopefully be posting, check out her project here. (Ohh and it only seemed natural to submit a photo of a llama)

Tram to work

2010-10-07T16:07:00.005+01:00

Now I'm in Brussels I can go to work on the tram if I want. I like trams .... public transport geek alert? Oh no!!! Super constructive and informative post here ;-)

Housing

2010-10-04T20:05:00.007+01:00

My new house in Brussels is seriously knock out and I can't wait to take loads of photos of my new surroundings and neighbourhood. Seriously not coping well with working full time after getting used to 12 hours weeks last year in France; harsh realities of the real world ;-D

The boat

2010-09-29T23:14:00.005+01:00

So I was a little nervous about getting the boat from Hull to Zeebrugge because the idea of a 31,598 ton metal mass floating on the North Sea perplexes and also petrifies me. The boat trip was actually pretty cool if not totally dead and both the departure and arrival landscape was totally barren leaving me with the opinion that I never ever want to live anywhere near a port. (Ps, one of the first things I did on board was to locate the life jackets, as you can see I was very happy when I'd found them!!!).

Moving to Brussels

2010-09-28T03:09:00.005+01:00

I'd totally settled into the idea that I would be back in the UK for the foreseeable future but things never quite turn out how they expect do they! So tonight I'm moving to Belgium for a bit ... on a boat! Promise myself less 1 photo posts in the future but the last few weeks have been kinda manic. Ohh and I've also got a few more (self indulgent?) articles over on Travelettes. Au revoir or tot ziens for now...

OkAy

2010-09-22T11:09:00.001+01:00

A continued Vespa series

2010-09-21T05:17:00.002+01:00

I love love love scooters yet the sensible middle aged woman in my head screams "DEATH TRAP DEATH TRAP YOU'RE RIDING A DEATH TRAP" whenever I seem to have got myself roped onto the back of one (well ... not literally roped, that would be kidnap) anyhow if sed middle aged woman isn't going to met me have one I might as well take photos of them, more specifically their wing mirrors!

Lunch in Avignon dinner in Nimes

2010-09-18T15:05:00.001+01:00

A table mes enfants

2010-09-17T12:32:00.006+01:00

Nothing better than catching up over dinner on a Saturday afternoon with the extended yet sometimes slightly disfunctional Aixoise family. Can you pass the water please.

Dead bodies in the Med

2010-09-16T16:35:00.001+01:00

This is the second set of photos from the disposable underwater camera. My mom said that it looks like we took photos of corpses we came across in the sea. We didn't! I get scared when I watch CSI!

Underwater camera experiment

2010-09-13T16:46:00.001+01:00

;

I've been dying to use an underwater camera for years and I finally got the chance to use a cheap disposable one when I was in Gozo with the family last month. I was so excited about going to pick these photos up from the chemist and I'm really pleased how they came out even if we are decapitated or limbless in a few of the photos; I never thought it would be that hard trying to take photos underwater!!!

French rock

2010-09-13T00:25:00.000+01:00

No matter how many times I see it it always makes me smile (yes okay I'm the sort of gal that smiles when she seen an inanimate lump of rock). There is nothing better than a Monday afternoon stroll by Mont Sainte Victoire. I've climbed it, walked round it, slept on top of it, taken hundreds of photos of it and, most importantly, picnicked beside it (here, here, here and here to name but a few), Cezanne you were onto something mate!

La Torse

2010-09-12T07:19:00.001+01:00

I love the graffiti walls in La Torse in Aix. They always seem so vibrant and change on a weekly basis so you never know what amazing piece of art your going to come across on your afternoon stroll.

Return to Aix

2010-09-10T11:45:00.001+01:00

Heading back to Aix en Provence to see my kids, the school and my Frenchies for a big military ceremony. The last time I left this place it was wet and slobbery, I have a feeling the return might be the same.

Washing lines

2010-09-08T17:07:00.006+01:00

So if you hop on a train from Arles 100 days later you'll be in Venice (year these cities are nowhere near each other yet my roll of film seems to imply they are just next door) where you can spy on peoples drying smalls suspended from their balconies. Why does clean washing in Italy seem infinitely more attractive and photogenic than clean washing in England? Hummm ...

Film frenzy

2010-09-06T15:05:00.000+01:00

So I've been on a film roll (roll ... ha ... get it) at the moment but I hate scanning it because the photo seems to loose something ... but whatever I have to fill me days with something. This is Arles! Not that the four photos show much or Arles (which is also one of my favourite cities) but hey, they were at least taken in Arles!

Italian boys

2010-09-04T21:20:00.005+01:00

Every time I come across this photo on my hard drive I have a little giggle. Well it's natural that Italian men on speedboats who wear Speedo's make me laugh, especially when the Speedo's are turquoise. Also, you can't see it in the photo but the silver fox on the right was wearing hot pink Speedo's. Venice was boiling, it was sometime back in May or June and it was one of those moments where Carol and I just cried with laughter watching them cruise on by in their little brightly coloured pants with not a single care.

Sand in my shoes

2010-09-02T12:17:00.000+01:00

Final few random photos from the holiday. This place is amazingly stuck in the 80's and its brilliant because there is no risk of spending a single penny because there is quite literally nothing to buy. After the boat trip I felt land sick for days, I'm not good with boats and the general idea of a continual rocking motion freaks me out but it makes for mean snorkeling. I also had a disposable underwater camera that we bought specially for the trip and its currently being developped. I've never used one before so I'm so excited to see if it works!

Hat market

2010-09-01T23:16:00.001+01:00

They seem to have this market in Victoria on Friday mornings that sells nothing but hats! Chlo bought the classic J.Wayne beaut when we were here two years ago and I was more than a bit thrilled to see they still bust the mini market out; it's like summer hat heaven because obviously a knitted woolly hat is kinda null and void in +35 degree heat.

Gozitan photo bomb

2010-08-30T23:05:00.005+01:00

.
I feel like I need to apologise (to myself?) for taking a series of crap photos of late. Since coming back from France nothing seems as photogenic; I would have normally captured every moment of walking, eating and debauchery much to the annoyance (sometimes) of my friends but here, at home, all of those things seem so banal. Anyway, meloncholy over, here are some family snaps from sunnier parts.

Haunting hog

2010-08-23T04:18:00.000+01:00

Rosie owns what is to be considered the scariest mask in the world. Hedgehogs are not cute and they are only cuddly if you enjoy acupuncture. Still freaked!!!

Also, I've been contributing to Travelettes for a few weeks now, an online travel website with advice, anecdotes and interviews related to being independent female travellers. Katja has done an amazing job putting it all together. You can read my first few articles here and here.

Today my feet look like this...

2010-08-22T00:49:00.000+01:00

Bruce and a hermit

2010-08-21T12:00:00.001+01:00

These were taken back in May when France was still home. We'd hiked all morning in 30+ degree heat and arrived at this amazing hermit's cave right at the top of the mountain before descending for a swim in the ocean. I remember feeling like it was something from a Bruce Springsteen album cover ...

Escape to Gozo

2010-08-19T12:41:00.001+01:00

As you read this I'm on a small island of the Maltese archipelago complaining about how hot it is and how my brother keeps lowering the aircon. There are more churches than people on this tiny island and living in Xaghra (pronounced Shara) has provided us with many travelling tales of monster sized jelly fish and naked German divers. Lets see what this summer has to hold ...

That box game

2010-08-17T23:05:00.008+01:00

Have you ever played the cereal box game? The basic principal is that you have a cereal box (or a pizza box if coco pops don't float your boat) and you have to pick it up only using your mouth. Only your feet are allowed to touch the floor so you can't kneel down and just pick it up. As the game progresses inches of the box are cut off making it smaller and more difficult to pick up. Players are eliminated when then can no longer pick up the box or accidentally touch the floor with their hands/knees/bum etc. The winner is the last man standing who probably has some freaky flexibility skills and an unnatural ability to perform circus acrobat esque positions.

At one point during our game I did get a little competitive and went to change into my pyjama bottoms; my spray on jeans were a little too constraining BUT the costume change didn't help as victory went to two (unnaturally) flexible boys who managed to retrieve a tiny 1cm box off the ground! Despite the hilarity of it my muscles are still complaining; splits fail = owch!

Error

2010-08-17T00:16:00.000+01:00

Being back at home means that opportunities for public humiliation are minimised; naturally I'm missing it so decided that a human sized man-repelling romper suit would re-align the embarrassment balance. Now the world is restored to its natural order I'm going to make tea.

It's Venice baby!!

2010-08-08T16:22:00.003+01:00

Normally when I visit a city I instantly love it or hate it. If it's love it gets added to the list of many cities I would like to live in one day and if it's hate (disdain/contempt blabla), well, I don't go back. I find Venice strange; I'd never want to live there but this is my 4th visit to this amazing city and I find it more and more enchanting ever time I come. There is no limit to the amount of time I can spend aimlessly wandering or sitting watching the world go by on the canals and there is also a strange lack of noise come nighttime which creates almost an erie magical atmosphere. If you can manage to find a space away from the tourist Venice really is one of the most magical cities around. (I have a ton of film I need developping but there should be a bit more of Venice to come ...)

U.G.L.Y

2010-08-05T12:51:00.000+01:00

My sister and I found a collection of hilariously ugly 80's jumpers in a random closet which naturally led to an afternoon of near hysterics. Why is it that ugly clothes with exaggerated shoulder pads brighten my day so much?

The Deep, Hull

2010-08-04T21:14:00.003+01:00

I wanted to make some clever joke referring to "sleeping with the fishes" after Lex and I went to the aquarium on Sunday but any form of linguistic creativity has escaped me. Whatever.

Frieda

2010-08-04T21:08:00.002+01:00

Provincial best bits

2010-07-30T10:24:00.005+01:00

Provence

The lycée

Friends

Gastronomy
.

Travel

Italy on film

2010-07-29T09:59:00.003+01:00

I've just had photos developed from my Italy trip back in May; I wanted to wait until I was back in the UK to develop them because it cost about 20 euros to get a 24 exposure developed in France and then quality was seriously shabby. Anyway, this is the first time I've scanned prints and the quality is horrible compared to the actual print which is kinda frustrating; is there anyway I can stop it being so grainy and closer to the original image?? Humm ... ohh and see that GIANT pot of Nutella, we went through 3 of those a week with the kids, oh yes, just hand me a spoon baby!

... in an English country garden!

2010-07-28T10:15:00.002+01:00

The gardens of Burton Agnes Hall are where I spent the majority of my childhood. They have giant versions of chess, snakes and ladders, drafts and hop scotch where, quite frankly, I have as much fun aged 24 as I dd when I was 5. The only thing is, everything looks a lot smaller 20 years on from your last visit.

I'm a farm girl

2010-07-27T14:05:00.001+01:00

My daily life used to involve fresh baguette, espresso, market life, stripy clothing, Longchamp handbags, military shenanigans and general French snobbery. Now its but a shadow of its former self; today's more about wellies, mud, wooly jumpers, crop planning and acres after acres of space. It's a nice different I suppose.

Camper van dreamin'

2010-07-26T20:36:00.004+01:00

It's always been part of the dream but I think I'm going to have to go and study mechanics before it becomes a reality.

Driffield show girls

2010-07-24T10:02:00.002+01:00

So being back in the UK I think it's time to stop moping and mourning France and embrace rural British life once again; queue my annual agricultural show where one picks one tractor for the upcoming season and spots the best cow in show ... hummm so basically here's a collection of photos of girls ... and cows ;-)

Le rêve

2010-07-23T14:31:00.001+01:00

i'd live here

and drive this

ohh and here's the view from the garden

everything would be coral,

and Dorothy (Phase 2) would be my shopping companion!

Ugly tomato convention meeting here!

2010-07-23T13:34:00.001+01:00

Not helping!

2010-07-22T17:15:00.001+01:00

"The loveliness of Aix en Provence - where tradition insists you stop and seriously wonder why you choose to live in England" The Sunday Times 11.07.10

Merci mon Colonel!

2010-07-22T16:28:00.001+01:00

Truth is graduation at the lycée was a while ago and France is now somewhat of a fastly fading memory. I've been back at home in the UK for a week and a bit now and although I don't miss France itself I terribly miss my Provincial life and the amazing friends I've made over the past year. I never expected it to be such a kick ass experience that has totally changed my perspectives and goals in just about every way imaginable. Merci mon Colonel et à bientôt (j'espère) mes amis :-D

French family times

2010-07-19T11:03:00.003+01:00

I took the kids to Palais Vendôme in Aix to see a dude playing his violin and then I promised them ice cream if the behaved themselves.

Reflex

2010-07-17T11:17:00.001+01:00

Arles

2010-07-16T13:02:00.003+01:00

Without a doubt one of my favourite cities in Provence. Famous for its Roman amphitheatre (where they still hold bull fights) and for being the city that institutionalized Vincent van Gogh after he cut off his ear. It's just too dam pretty. (Is is shameful that whilst I write this I'm listening to Shania Twain?)

Ladies getting wet bums whilst posing by fountain...

2010-07-13T10:55:00.001+01:00

More to come on this day but here's a wee taster of an emotionally charged by exceptionally stylish graduation ceremony at the lycée. I openly sobbed. I am not a sobber especially not in a military institution where the men are not even used to seeing members of the opposite sex, never mind ones with boobs and strange alien things called feelings. I guess its dam hard to accept that something you have loved doing has to end. Sob ... blubber ...

Nice is nice

2010-07-12T13:00:00.001+01:00

Our mini-break to Nice was indeed very nice. We spent all day on the (albeit pebbly) beach, reading, laughing at old french men in thong speedo's (ewww) and eating copious amounts of baguette, hummus and cheese. We went on a few long walks, visited Monaco, managed to squeeze in a little retail therapy and sampled the treats of Nice's nightlife which included a hilarious run in with a Scottish football team and some table dancing in a very very seedy sweaty club.

Thats not a look mother, it's just my face!

2010-07-10T14:16:00.002+01:00

Is this not the biggest pan au chocolat you have ever seen in your whole life?! I have no words!

The calanques

2010-07-10T12:30:00.003+01:00

.
.

The calanques around Cassis and Marseille are a collection of rock inlets with hidden beaches and bays where the only access is by boat (and despite the number of pennies I have thrown into wishing well I still don't own one) or a more grueling walk in +30 degree heat. Normally the further you have to work the more beautiful and more deserted the calanque. It's one of France's great natural beauties and in the next few years it should be confirmed as one of the worlds protected national parks. Needless to say that hanging out here is quite definitely cool.

Ceviches

2010-07-07T13:10:00.002+01:00

Chop up your fish into nice bitesize pieces
(haddock is a good European substitute).

Cut up and squeeze a lot of limes for their JUICE.

Chop some coriander. But not your fingers.

Add the fish, then coriander, then lime juice into a bowl.
This order is important. Don't you dare put the lime juice first.

Add diced green chillies to taste.

Mix it all up with some chopped red onion. A bit of tongue always helps.

Whilst you leave the fish to marinade. Prepare the Pisco Sours.

It's a seriously deadly yet yummy cocktail.

The fish will actually cook in the lime juice so after maybe 10 to 15 mins
of marinading/cooking its time to serve up the no longer raw dinner.

Add a side of sweet potato mash and enjoy.

My life is always full of funny and slightly complicated interconnected people and events. Alejandro is my former roommate from Montreal who is currently also living in Aix-en-Provence, France. He is originally from Peru, not a stones through away from where I used to live in Mancora, Northern Peru. For his birthday a few weeks back we celebrated by making one of my favourite dishes from the region; ceviches.

Thanks

2010-07-06T16:06:00.001+01:00

Spending lots of time in a multi-lingual group of friends (Spanish, German, English, American, Irish, French, Colombian, Russian ... ) can lead to some hilarious misunderstandings. Our common language is French with English as a very strong second language but days of confusion are now over thanks to the appearance of this little gem. Thank God for Amazon!

Whatever

2010-07-04T15:52:00.000+01:00

I don't remember what I wanted to say ...

Q : Whats a llama? A : It's a sort of South African goat.

2010-07-03T15:54:00.002+01:00

I am not really in the least bit interested in football but any excuse to unveil a bit of English pride abroad is usually embraced. One of many World Cup parties this season included unnaturally long straws, white sangria and Uruguayan delights as prepared by Fal and Rob. Simply legendary.