Entering the metro post smurf sighting

TGIF | Which Smurf do you most identify with?

Happy Friday!!  Perhaps you are smarter than me and you already knew this, but the Smurfs are Belgian!  You could not imagine my (perhaps infantile) delight when I stumbled upon this statue.

Since I'm already writing a post about Smurfs, I doubt I'll hurt what credibility I have left by mentioning what this made me think of...do I have any fellow Bones fans out there?  Ok, well, probably not, but anyway - there's this episode from Season 3, where they end up kind of by accident at Brennan's high school reunion.  (Well, not really by accident.  There was a murder nearby, which is why they were there in the first place...I could give more of a full recap, but I think that this might be better.)  Anyway!  Brennan tells Booth her most embarrassing high school story, about how a boy she had liked stuck a Brainy Smurf on her locker, humiliating her.  Booth doesn't get it at first, but then does later, and it's really sweet...okay, okay, so maybe I should stop while I'm ahead, but if you like Bones, you'll get it.

via http://bonestheory.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/in-search-of-a-hero/

Going to Starbucks in Istanbul

The selection at this Starbucks in Istanbul made me a little sad that the Starbucks at home don't even have my favorite morning buns anymore - at least, the Starbucks I frequented.  Those were one of the few things I would break my gluten free diet for - that is, while I was actually being good about not eating gluten.  Or dairy.  Or corn.

As you might have suspected with all the posts concerning waffles, I am no longer adhering to any of my former dietary restrictions.  (I realize that this would have been much easier on all of my friends in Columbus had I stopped sooner, but know that I enjoyed every bite of that giant Gluten free chocolate cupcake Ellen found for me.)  I figured that continuing my cleanse might make this trip a bit - well, impossible?

Here's to...enjoying food again?  Afiyet olsun!

At home, in Brussels

This is the view from our (shared) apartment at the YWAM base here in Brussels.  I know it's not a double rainbow, but could be worse, eh?

En Route to Sint Niklaas, Belgium

We volunteered at a festival last weekend.  No pictures of the actual festival (typical), but the design nerd in me was loving the typography used in the signs at the train stations along the way.

We stopped at Antwerp to change trains; hopefully I'll have a chance to go there soon.  (Mostly because of Dries van Noten, but that's another love letter disguised as a blog post.)

I Love Cilantro, Unapologetically

lion heart vintage/Flickr.com

I read this article on my NPR app a couple of days ago, and was so amused that I thought I would share it with you.  I have always loved cilantro - thought everyone loved cilantro - until I went to college in Rhode Island.  I discovered there* that such haters actually exist!   

Maybe it was all of the Tex Mex I ate growing up?  Or is it really in the genes, as the NPR article claims?  What do you think?

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*Thanks to someone who ended up becoming a dear friend, despite her dislike for something so essential to my favorite dishes, haha...  (Maybe this is a little pathetic, but I can easily tell you that the easiest way to become fast friends with me - apart from loving Jane Austen, Downton Abbey, and old movies - is by being compatible with me, food-wise.)

Food! Part 5

Asma Yaprağı, Alaçatı.

We went here for dinner on our last night.  Hands down, best food in Alaçatı.  It's traditional Turkish food, but oh-so-mouth-watering-good...

(You'll have to excuse my blur-fest of pictures.  As I've said before, it might be worth my bringing a real, non-iPhone camera along with me now and then..)

Food! Part 4

[At dinner one night in Alaçatı.]

Me: I don't know whyyy, but I've been craving octopus all day.

Mom: Hmm.

Me: Oooh!  They have some on the menu.  Shall we order the one with tomatoes, peppers, and cumin, the one grilled, or the salad?

Dad: The one with cumin.  Sounds interesting.

[It's brought out.  The above photo is taken.]

Mom: Hmm.

Dad: Well!

Kaylin: [Silence.]

Me: Ok, Dad, you go first.

Dad: Ok.  [Chews.]  Tastes good.

Me:  Ok.  Tastes like chicken, sort of.  But - good!  Mom?  Aren't you going to have any?

Mom: Hmm.

Me: Mom?

Mom: Hmm. 

Me: Mom...come on.  I tried the liver you ordered the other night, even though you knew I think it always smells (and therefore tastes) like dog food.  Come on.  Just try it.

Kaylin: [Still silent.  She had already declared that she wasn't in the mood for seafood.]

Mom: Hmm.  Well.  But...but - it's just...so...big!  I've had octopus, but not like that.  Hmm...hmm.  Ok.  Well...ok.  [She takes the smallest bite possible, wincing as she chews.]  Hmm.  [Cough]  Hmm.  [Cough.]  Ok.  That's enough.  [Cough.]  You can have this bit back.

Me: Haha..ok.  No, that's fine.  You can keep it.

What a Difference a Flight Makes

Ahhh!  What a difference a short flight can make.  While it's definitely beautiful here, it's in a different way: the air is crisp with the feel of fall in the air, the entire mood of the city changes constantly throughout the day as the sun goes back and forth behind the clouds, occasional church bells have replaced the frequent calls to prayer, the sounds of French mixed with English and (occasionally) Flemish fill the streets, and I have to constantly remind myself to reply to people in French instead of Turkish.*

I hope that all of my American friends are enjoying their pumpkin spice lattes, by the way - I didn't have a chance to get one before I left.  My consolation is that I'll be thinking of you while I'm eating my (real) Belgian waffles.

*Not that I really have any right to infer that I'm very conversant in either language, but there was a Groupon for Rosetta Stone a couple of days ago, so I ordered all four levels of the French version.  There are also enough French speakers here on the DTS with me that I'll hopefully(!) have a chance to make up for the last eight years I've spent mostly forgetting the small amount I learned in high school.

Near Alaçatı, Turkey - Part 2

Can we just take a minute to discuss how lacking the beaches at home in comparison to this?  I mean, maybe I'm just not going to the right places,* so let me know if I'm in the wrong here, but seriously! If I were a more accomplished photographer, I would have taken better pictures to capture how beautiful the view was - not to mention the food (we ate while sunbathing): freshly blended fruit juices, stuffed mussels, tuna salads... 

*I realize of course that it's not really fair to compare the Gulf of Mexico with the Aegean Sea.

Near Alaçatı, Turkey - Part 1

The sunsets were sooo beautiful.  Obviously.

Alaçatı

New York, London, Milan, and Paris - oh my!

Source: style.com via Kathrine on Pinterest

I've discussed this with some of my designer friends, but seriously - it has become so difficult to keep up with the amount of designers that are showing at fashion week!  Was it only 3-4 years ago that I still felt capable of staying on top of everything??  Now, however, I give up.  While it's great exposure for the new designers, I admit it! - I can't look at all of your lines, because that would take up all of my time every September and February.

So!  I've been pinning things I like (from what I've looked at) thus far.  I'll probably do some type of review on here in the future, but since there are still things I'd like to post about my recent travels and current experiences, it might have to wait.

xx

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PS - The above image is from Diane von Furstenberg, one of my favorite shows this season so far.

And, this is why I blog

I have found so much of what inspires me through my favorite bloggers, that the creative person in me thought it might be appropriate to give it a try at some point - appropriate, like in the way that we say that we will eventually do something but never actually get around to doing it.  I don't even know how long I was talking with my friends about starting a blog before I finally had the courage to do so. 

And then... Pinterest came along.  If you've visited my boards, you will know that I am a bit excessive enthusiastic with my pinning at times.  After pinning some several thousand images (I'm not kidding), I realized that blogging is not necessarily that much more difficult.  It also allows you the freedom to express your thoughts and personal images a bit more clearly.  So - once I quit my job to figure out life, I no longer had any more excuses - et voilà!

I'm still very much in the experimental stages here, and I'm still figuring out what I'd like it to be - but everyone has to start somewhere, no?  Garance said it so clearly in her most recent post that I would like to share it with you here.  It's bloggers like her who encourage me to try something like this, even if it's not the most polished thing at first.  Maybe one day I will be the professional she has become, maybe not.*

So please, have patience with me.  I will never stop envying understand how people in their early twenties can already be so successful in their careers!  Of course it's easier if you're wealthy, but I'm talking more about having such clear vision that enables you to be determined enough to succeed at such a young age.  How does anyone know what they want at 22?  At 26, I'm realizing that the more I learn makes me realize how much much I don't know, that ignorance would obviously prevent me from making the wisest decisions, how I still have the whole world in front of me but don't know what I want, that I don't know what I want for lack of knowing what is worth my having - and it goes on and on.

Perhaps it's easier if you start your career earlier, but then I wouldn't have read all of that English and American literature, I wouldn't have studied as much history, or practiced as much French.**  I like to think that it will somehow inform my future creativity, haha!  Alexander McQueen was quite the academic, wasn't he?  Maybe I'll have a show organized for me at the Met someday??  OK, OK - I know that's enough; I'll stop being dramatic.

But, in short - I'm finding myself stuck somewhere in the middle between the day dreams I had in college and the disillusionment that came with working in the real world as a corporate designer.  Are my dreams merrily a symptom of my unfitness for the fashion industry of today?  Or, are they a hint of what might be to come?  To push for something different (and possibly better), one cannot simply be happy with the status quo.  Like Garance said in her post:

Everything still has to be invented, and to invent it we must try.

So! - I will keep trying.  Maybe if I keep posting irregular things as they come to me, it will be something like my approach to decorating a space.  If, instead of looking for something to furnish a space for the sake of it or being so concerned that everything you buy matches, rather focusing more to choose items that really speak to you in some way (minding of course that you don't get something like 12 rugs just because you like rugs), you will find that in the end, your eclectic assortment of odds and ends somehow speak to the different elements of your personality, consequently allowing your space to look more naturally furnished - and thankfully, without that contrived look that so many model homes have.

Maybe nothing will come of it, but then again - maybe something will.  :)

xx,
Kathrine



*I can tell you now that unless I can (1) get over my laziness to carry around a heavy camera with me in lieu of my iPhone, (2) learn how to be French in that je ne sais quoi kind of way, (3) hunker down long enough to improve my illustration skills, and (4) find a famous blogging/photographing/fashion editing boyfriend, I will never (ever) be in her league.

**I also wouldn't have learned so much about film history from Robert Osborne...any other TCM fans out there??

A DTS with YWAM, defined

I have received a couple questions asking exactly what a DTS with YWAM entails and thought that I would answer in a post, should anyone else be curious - 

YWAM (Youth with a Mission) was founded in 1960 with the purpose of providing young people with an opportunity to share Christ's love throughout the world while also increasing their cultural awareness.  Today, it has grown into a global organization with volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, but still maintains its simple mission statement "to know God and make him known".

The DTS (Discipleship Training School) is their 6 month, full-time residential training program that includes 3 months spent in a classroom setting involving lectures and mentoring, followed by 3 months of outreach in a different country and culture so as to provide an opportunity to put the training of the first 3 months into practice.  The DTS is designed to help the students not only understand God on a deeper level, but also to help the students identify their God-given unique gifts and purposes to use in missions.

Each DTS differs in its culture and focus as any school would, so one may apply to whichever program around the world that one would like to attend, but there is less control over where the outreach portion will be spent - it could be in Africa, Eastern Europe, or even Central America - the location is more or less determined by the DTS, based on the Holy Spirit's leading, combined with any potential visa restrictions, etc. 

I am currently in Brussels, Belgium, where my DTS is based.  It has not yet been officially announced where our outreach will take place, but I assume that we will all know soon.

I hope that helps to answer any of your questions!  You may also visit their websites, should you be curious:

http://www.ywambrussels.be/en/
http://www.ywam.org/


xx, Kathrine

Food! Part 3

Even though I'm in Brussels now, I will still continue to post about my trip in Turkey, since we ate saw so much!  This lovely photo was taken in Izmir.

Care to guess what this is?  

Hmm...don't want to?   I'll tell you: it's stuffed intestines.  I'm not kidding!  Don't worry, it's not stuffed with what might have been left in there when the animal died, haha..  I think it was mostly ground lamb, rice, and veggies.  We all rather enjoyed the taste; it was just a little difficult to get past the fact of it - does that make sense?

Food! Part 2

This market in Alaçatı gives Whole Foods a run for its money.