Monday 31 January 2011

Dilemma

After a long time I give you another story from Emma's point of view.


I have to call you and tell you what I just saw. But what if you won’t believe me? You’ll probably say I’m crazy and I didn’t see it right. But I know what I saw.

Hello? You answered right away. Should I tell you or not?

Tim I just saw Mark kissing another woman. This is the right thing to do. Mark can’t cheat on Jen. Oh Jenny… I have to call her and tell her too. No, I can’t tell her something like this over the phone. I should meet her for lunch.

Why are you so quiet? Say something.

Are you sure you saw Mark and not someone else? I knew you won’t believe me.

I’m sure Tim. I know what I saw, you have to believe me! Are you cheating on me too?

Emma, Mark is my best friend, don’t you think I would know if he was messing around? That’s a good question. Are you messing around?

No, he wouldn’t tell you because he knows that you would tell me and I would tell Jenny. She will be devastated. How am I going to tell her something like this?

You can’t tell Jenny! What?? Are you serious? I have to tell her, I can’t lie to her. Maybe you’re right though. Was it really him? Damn, you’re messing with my head. I know what I saw and Jen has to know. She can’t live a lie.

Tim I have to tell her. She’s my best friend and she’s always been there for me. I can’t lie to her. How can you expect me to hide something like this from her? If it was me I would want to know and I’m sure she would.

It's not a lie if you don't tell her. Emma, you can’t just tell her that you saw him kissing another woman. You can ruin their marriage and you’re not even sure it was him. Don’t do it Emma. Why don’t you believe me? I know what I saw and I can’t hide it from her I have to tell her. I should call her right away and tell her to meet me. But where? It has to be somewhere quiet and uncrowded. She’ll cry and she may make a scene. Should I go over to her place? No, he will be there. Maybe I should invite her to our place and buy a bottle of wine on the way home. Or two perhaps…

Tim, I’m going to tell her. I’m sure I saw him and the woman was tall with dark blonde hair. I wanted to go there and grab her hair and… well, I don’t know what I would do to her. But it’s not her fault. He’s the one who’s cheating and he’s the one to blame.

Emma, what if the pills are messing with your head. Go home and wait for me. We’ll talk about it. I should go now I have a meeting. I knew you would say this. The anti-depressants I’m taking are helping me and I’m feeling much better and you don’t believe it. You think I’m pretending.

Bye Tim. I hang up. If you’re having a meeting now you won’t come home for at least a couple of hours. This would give me enough time to talk to Jenny.

Hey Emma what’s going on? You haven’t called me in a long time is there something wrong? It’s true, I haven’t called her since… I don’t know since when to be honest. And she’s asking me if there’s something wrong. Yes it is, her husband is cheating on her and I have to break the news to her.

Are you busy? I would like to see you and I was thinking maybe you could come over to our place. I have two bottles of your favourite wine. I don’t have them yet but I’m on my way to the store. I should also buy some food. Or not, we can order in.

Sure, I would love to. I need a time out from my work. I’ve been working on a project for Tina’s mom and haven’t been sleeping for two days in a row. I have so many ideas I can’t stop working. I’m glad she finally got some work. It’ll keep her busy so she won’t think about Mark and that woman. I should invite her to move to our place for a couple of weeks.

It's a date. See you in an hour.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Once upon a time

There was a small village, counting just above twenty houses and as many families. The village was surrounded by a forest on one side and by fields on the other. A small road lead to the village and just before the village there was a small bridge across a small river which ran into a dark green lake where children spent their afternoons swimming and laughing.

People living there knew each other very well; they were all like one big family, always helping each other. They grew crops together, just enough for them to survive. They also had animals – horses which helped them out on the fields; cows for milk; pigs for meat and sheep for wool. They didn’t need much.

In the centre of the village stood a church, with a tall bell tower and in front of the church stood an ancient oak. Villagers hung a swing from the branches and made a sandbox next to it so that small children could play there and someone could keep an eye on them.
There were also a couple of benches and tables where the villagers met in the evenings and talked while the older children were playing hide and seek and smaller ones were in the sandbox building castles. Theiy all lived in harmony, peacefully and happily.

On a cloudy day in late autumn five men were on the fringe of the forest chopping wood for winter. A tall black-haired man in a white shirt noticed how wonderful the trees in the forest are; a multi-coloured forest always impressed him. Autumn was his favourite time of the year because it painted trees in beautiful red and gold. He always wanted to fly like a bird so he could see this wonder created by Mother Nature from the sky.

It was quiet in the village; all children were by the lake, playing and taking their last swim before the winter, every one except a little blonde girl who was sitting in front of the house at the end of the village. She sat there on the bench, quietly, and waited.

She waited for her mother to come out of the house and tell her to do whatever needed to be done. She waited for hours when her mother finally came and looked at her seriously.

Run. Run fast.

The girl stood up and ran as though her own life was in danger. She ran past the houses; she ran past the church and the oak with the swing hanging down from it, moving in the wind even though no one was around to swing on it; she ran over the bridge and when she crossed it she turned left on a small path leading to the forest. She ran though high grass, almost as tall as she was.

When she approached the five men who were chopping wood she slowed down. The
tall black-haired man in the white shirt noticed her and dropped the axe to the ground. He stood there for a moment and then he ran towards the village. He ran so fast that he didn’t notice how beautiful the forest was. He didn’t notice the red and the gold. When he ran over the bridge he didn’t notice the river peacefully flowing underneath him. He didn’t notice the church or the oak with the swing. He only saw his house and he wanted to get there as fast as he could.

The black-haired man quietly entered the house and a tiny old woman with grey hair came towards him from the next room.

You have to decide. She said.

He looked at her and felt empty inside. Save her. Save my wife.

The man sat on a chair and looked through the window. He didn’t notice the menacing black clouds coming from the south. He didn’t see anything; he just heard the screams coming from the next room. He didn’t see the small drops falling from the sky.

He sat there for hours listening to the screams mixed with the sound of rain falling on the roof. An angry storm arrived, with heavy rain and blinding lightning. Thunder was so loud it drowned out the screams from the next room. But the man didn’t hear or see any of it. He was praying with his eyes closed and waiting.

He was sitting there for hours, quietly praying and waiting and hoping that he would see his wife one more time. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her one more time. He wanted to hug her one more time.

After hours of waiting, a chubby young woman came from the next room. He looked at her inquiringly.

Your wife and your son are waiting to see you.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Road trip pt. 7 - The end

We decided that the best route back home would be south, along the Cote d'Azur and via Italy back to Slovenia.


Somewhere in France (don’t know where)



I was bored because we drove for over 800km that day so I found different ways of having fun. Messing with the GPS was one of them



The most beautiful sunset I saw in my life was in Provence (the picture doesn’t do it justice; it was much more magnificent)



 The market place in Aix en Provence on a Saturday morning. We bought lavender honey and some spices



Aix en Provence



Nice


On our way home we also had a short stop in Monaco. If you’re a car enthusiast you really should go there.



This is the starting point for Formula 1 Monaco Grand prix. When I saw these lines on the road I started jumping in the car and yelling. We were actually driving through the F1 circuit




The proof that we actually drove through the famous tunnel (for those of you who don’t watch F1 – this is the famous tunnel from the race)



Bugatti Veyron



Mercedes SLS-AMG



Rolls Royce Ghost



Aston Martin Rapide


Don’t be angry with me, I love cars and I was so impressed with seeing all these cars on the same day in such a short time.






We came to the end of our road trip. It was amazing and I would love to go again.



 Me in Monaco, the last picture taken on our road trip

Sunday 23 January 2011

Road trip pt. 6 - London

After cruising through France, Belgium and The Netherlands we decided to go to London. Yes, you’ve read it right – London. We reserved a ferry and a hotel about 20km outside of London.

Mr. Starlight said: Why not, we’re pretty near so why shouldn’t we drive over there?


The ferry which took us to The United Kingdom. The "legendary" Norman Trader.


The view from our seats inside the ferry


The first few kilometres were a bit spooky. I know that some of you who are reading this are from the UK so I have a question for all of you: Do you know that you drive on the wrong side of the road? Don’t get me wrong – it was much fun and I enjoyed it a lot.


Me on the Piccadilly Circus


Me in front of the Tower Bridge


On the Trafalgar Square


This is how I look when I’m tired and hungry


The Westminster Palace; I love this building, it’s magnificent


Don’t mess with me ;)


The London Eye


Gluten-free chocolate cake from Marks and Spencer’s; it was unbelievably tasty.


I just figured out that we don’t have a lot of pictures from London. Don’t ask me why… So I decided that we’ll have to go back there soon because I want more pictures!
We really had an awesome time there and I loved it! I hope that the next time I come to the UK I’ll have a chance to meet some of my favorite bloggers ;)

Saturday 22 January 2011

Awards

A couple of days ago Asian Angel surprised me by passing the Life is good award on me. I’m sure you already guessed that I was really happy about it (and still am!). Asian Angel thank you so very much for thinking of me and giving me this award. For those of you, who haven’t noticed her blog, check it out.



The award comes with responsibilities:

1. First, thank and link back to the person that gave the award.
2. Answer the 10 survey questions
3. Pass the award along to other bloggers whom you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you have chosen to let them know about the award



1.      If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this?  If you aren't anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now? 

I write under a pseudonym but I don’t consider myself an anonymous blogger because sometimes I post my pictures and I write about myself. Also, I don’t hide my blog from people I know.
I wouldn’t change the way my blog is and the way I “represent” myself.


2.      Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.  

I’m quite stubborn and it shows every time I have an argument with Mr. Starlight. I don’t recall a particular incident which would show my stubbornness though.


3.      What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?  

I see a girl who is still a bit confused and doesn’t yet know exactly what she wants to do in/with her life. Sometimes she freaks out about this but usually she just goes with the flow (trying to control the flow so she knows where she’s headed).


4.      What is your favorite summer cold drink?

One would be lemonade and another one is probably some sweet and sour cocktail.


5.      When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

I read and write blogs. It frees my mind and it relaxes me.


6.      Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life?
I want to accomplish a lot of things in my life. First, I want to finish my studies in the next 3 years. I would also like to write a novel some day.

7.      When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person or always ditching?
That’s a tough one. I think I was a bit of a clown in high school but now at the university I’m just a normal, I would say average, student.

8.      If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see? 
That would be the moment my grandfather died. And a couple of days after it happened. His death really devastated me.

9.      Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people and events? 
Sometimes I write about myself and I don’t have a problem with it. Yes, sometimes it's tough to share my deepest feelings and thoughts but it’s somehow cathartic.
I find it much harder to write about other people because I don’t want the person I wrote about to see it and be angry with me.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why? 

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to be alone and don’t want to talk to anyone but often I call my best friends and catch up with them since we’re all studying and don’t often find time to see each other.




Yesterday I got another award. The sweetest With cherry on the freakin' toppassed on me the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. Thank you so very much. I also see it as an award for being such a good girl this week (I passed 2 exams!).
Everyone who hasn’t seen his blog yet – check it out, do follow him, he’s an amazing writer.

Thanks again to With cherry on the freakin' top and Asian Angel, it’s really sweet of you two to pass the award on me.

I think that all bloggers I follow are fantastic, so I would like to give those two awards to all of you. Please, do except them and pass them on.
(Because I’m passing the award to everyone who is reading this I won’t name all of you. It’s too much you awesome guys and girls!)

Monday 17 January 2011

Road trip pt. 5 - Belgium and The Netherlands

My series of posts about our road trip would be much longer if I would describe every day and every city we've been to that’s why I decided to add more pictures and try to capture the essence of the trip. If you would like me to write more and add fewer pictures, please let me know.


Our next destination was Bruges, Belgium, which is a spectacular old city. We went on a boat ride and our captain told us a lot about history and buildings we saw on the tour.

If I remember correctly this is one of the oldest restaurants in the city



This is one of the oldest bridges in the city



Lovely old houses


In the late afternoon Mr. Starlight surprised me with an unplanned trip to Oostende, which is a small city by the sea.


My delicious dinner


I love sea and sand beaches so Mr. Starlight hit the spot taking me to this beach. I was very happy, as you can see, even though it was cold


The next day we went to the capital of Belgium, Brussels.


We went to see the Atomium and I was surprised how big it is (see how small I am compared to the huge ball above me?)


The Atomium


It took us an hour to find Manneken Pis and we were lucky because he was dressed that day


Of course we went to an amazing pub which holds the Guinness world record for the most varieties of beer commercially available


It was a tough decision (we only tried 3 or 4 different beers) and this one I liked the most (yes, I’m a sissy and I like fruit flavored beer)


We cruised around Belgium for another day headed towards The Netherlands.


We went to see the windmills in Kinderdijk, The Netherlands


It was the first hot day in weeks and you can see how happy I am about it. (I actually got sunburnt but I didn’t mind it because I prefer that to being cold)


The old city centre in Delft, The Netherlands


I fell in love with the cute Dutch houses


I have to admit that I was totally unimpressed by Amsterdam (don’t judge me) where we went on a boat tour (yes, we went on a boat tour almost everywhere).


A lovely boat-house (I think I was most impressed by boat-houses which were amazing)

Thursday 13 January 2011

The Stylish blogger Award


I got a wonderful surprise today. An amazing blogger Caterpillar passed the Stylish blogger Award to me. Thank you so much Cat, it was a really nice surprise and I’m very grateful and honoured. (To all of you, who are reading this: Please check out her blog, she’s a very talented writer).



There are a couple of “duties” I have to perform in order to accept this award.

1.           Thank and link back to the person who gave this award to you which I already did.

2.           Share 7 things about yourself – This will be a though one (I know from experience) but I’ll give it a try:

               I.      I don’t like soft vegetables and fruit. A soft apple or carrot – no thanks, I’ll pass. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know, that’s just the way I’ve always been.

             II.      I'm against war and weapons but I like war movies and tv shows. In fact - Band of brothers is one of my favourite shows. That’s a weird combination I know.

            III.      My nails are always painted. Red, blue, violet, black, you name it. I feel like I’m not myself if my nails aren’t painted and I never go out of the apartment without paint on my nails.

         IV.      I’ve always wanted to become a writer. Maybe I will some day, who knows?

           V.      I have ugly handwriting and I’ve always justified it with the same sentence: “We, intelligent people, don’t care about our handwriting because it doesn’t really matter how we write.”

         VI.      Sleeping is my favourite hobby. I can fall asleep at any time of day and I really enjoy it.

        VII.      My sour taste didn’t develop properly so I can eat/drink extremely sour foods/drinks and taste just a little of the flavour. And that’s not very good for me, because I love sour tastes so something has to be really sour for me to taste it.

3.           Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers – I admit that I’ll cheat a bit. I won’t just nominate recently discovered bloggers but the ones who I think deserve the award:









Shopgirl - A blessing a day


Nikki - Nikki travels





4.         Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award – Will do it right after I publish this post.


I would like to say thank you again to Catrpillar and congratulate her and all the other bloggers who won this award.


Monday 10 January 2011

Road trip pt. 4 - Paris

Paris is pretty big, did you know that? It took us more than an hour to find our hotel which was in a suburban area of Paris, called Maisons-Laffitte. We arrived late in the afternoon so we took a walk through Maisons-Laffitte and we instantly fell in love with the town. You should see it, it’s wonderful.

The next day we went to Paris. Of course we went to see the Eiffel first but it wasn’t as romantic and lovely as I imagined it would be. When we came there it started to rain and we waited under some trees until it stopped. Then we figured out we should come back some other day when the weather would be nicer because we didn’t want to go to the top in cloudy weather.

Me in front of the Eiffel tower.


We went to see Hôtel des Invalides but on the way there it started to rain and when we got there we were pretty drenched so we decided to go back to the hotel and change our clothes. But we couldn’t find the metro station and in the middle of searching for the damn station it started to rain very heavily. I have never seen it rain so much in my life. When we finally found the metro station we were completely wet, even down to our underwear. You can imagine the pity looks from the people around.

In front of the Hôtel des Invalides (you can see that my hair is wet)


We went back to the hotel and changed our clothes and Mr. Starlight dried his shoes with a hairdryer (yes, he had a lot of water in his shoes). After an hour or two the weather had gotten better and the sun started to shine so we decided to go back and see Arc de Triomphe and walk through the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at La Défense and were totally amazed by La Grande Arche.

Arc de Triomphe 


The view of La Grande Arche from Arc de Triomphe 


Me in front of La Grande Arche


 Me standing in the middle of Avenue des Champs-Élysées looking weird because I saw an Aston Martin (which is my favourite car) standing behind Mr. Starlight


The next day we saw The Panthéon, which is one of my favourite buildings in Paris, it’s beautiful.

Me in front of The Panthéon


We also went to Hôtel des Invalides – this time we weren’t all wet so we spent a wonderful afternoon in one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen.

Hôtel des Invalides


On the third day we went to the Catacombes de Paris which I regret, because we queued for almost three hours (!!!!) and the catacombs weren’t anything special at all. That’s the only thing I regret about our road trip – seeing the catacombs.


And after the disappointing catacombs we finally went up on the Eiffel tower. It was great! I can’t describe the feeling you have to go up for yourself and experience it.

 Me on the Eiffel tower


The view of Hôtel des Invalides from the Eiffel tower


After an amazing experience on the Eiffel tower we went to the other side of Paris to see Basilique du Sacré-Cœur but some guy in front of the Basilique totally ruined it for us, because he was singing Bob Marley songs and he really really sucked at it.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur 


I believe that you know from the look on my face what I thought about the singing-guy


The last day (yep it was already time to hit the road again) we went to Versailles

The Versailles gardens


The Versailles