On that first week.

I’m enjoying myself as much as always now that Finland has become my ultimate summer destination. A few things worth noting:

- My daytrip to Helsinki was marked by a lot of walking and a rather decent shopping experience, in which I thankfully didn’t let the sales blind me too much (especially over at Monki, seeing as it was my much-anticipated first time there and I had to refrain myself from going crazy with la credit card).

- Anyone who’s ever seen Pushing Daisies might have foamed a bit at the mouth upon seeing those pear-and-Gruyère pies that Charlotte lovingly sent her cheese-loving aunts on a regular basis. Well, it seems I have mastered the deed! Unfortunately, no pictures: pie really flies, y’know.

- My boyfriend and I have been tidying up the apartment a bit, trying to steer it away from bachelor’s pad direction it inevitably takes when I’m not around. I finally won me some closet space and now I’m looking forward to buying/making nice decorations for the walls. As for my boyfriend, he finally fixed up his workroom, where he now makes beautiful haunting music and plays Starcraft for hours.

- I don’t really know what else we’ve done, but somehow that feels like a good thing.

 

I do hope I get some more time at the lake, though.

Always a bit on the flakey side.

In less than a week, I went from being caught under the tropical rainstorms of my homeland to basking in the dry heat of the Great North. I think my Venezuela-Belgium-Finland voyage has left me a bit speechless, my only wish being to indulge in some serious couch time with my favorite couch potato. All of this to say that I’m laaaaaazy, a lazy-ass blogger and a lazy-ass girlfriend, trailing around some lazy-ass projects and a big, lazy ass which no amount of coffee can shake up.

I have a lot I need to get around to doing. But, hey. All in all, this summer is pretty fantastic so far.

"I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?"

This looks more than promising.

Yes, she did.

Julia Margaret Cameron, photos from Getty.

Don’t you miss your girlfriends and your knights? I do, at least some of them. Very much so.

Last night was a really good night!

Images via Jezebel.

First time I care about anything sports related!

(Even though people can be really annoying and insane and I don’t understand how people can jam a two lane road to celebrate and generally make a super huge useless fuss and get drunk on top of cars and block the entrance to the gas station when we’ve been in a traffic jam for THREE HOURS AGHHHHHHH).

Felicitaciones, chicos!

This is where we started.

Being back home always brings along this routine of self-discovery and apprehension, along with the feeling that I won’t be the same upon returning. Why is it so easy to lose touch with all of this, with who you were born as and grew up to become? It’s quite strange knowing that my life won’t be built around these parts, surrounded by these people who I will always recognize but struggle seeing myself reflected in. All I lived as a child and as a teenager is here, so far away from me that when I revisit these places I can’t help becoming one again.

I’m glad I’ve grown up here and I’m glad I’ve gone away. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t care as much as I do about this place.

I have a flu at the moment and I’ve had a hard time focusing on anything that’s not absolutely brain-numbing. I’ve been playing around with squirrels, though.

Memories.

Fernand Khnopff. Sources 1 + 2, 3.

Went to a Belgian Symbolism exhibition before leaving. My eyes have not yet bounced back from their peaceful bliss.