New Blog!

Hey there!

I've got a new blog to go with a new phase of life: www.kelleyjeanne.wordpress.com

It's still about ma belle vie, but just a little different :)

Enjoy!

Old photographs

A little story, a little nugget, that I discovered while packing this morning.

Scanning my apartment, trying to discern what I needed to shove into a suitcase, and what would stay put, I rested my eyes on the sudo-canvas-photo-painting that I bought for two euros last year at the Differdange flea market.

I wanted something to pep up my stark white walls, and for two euros? I could leave it here. And really, while it's a nice black and white photo of a cafe scene, it wasn't something that I was in love it, but something I could enjoy for a year on my wall.

But today, I realized something. I looked more closely at the name of the cafe....'Cafe Brasserie du Dom'...I had been there. Last week.

In fact, it's one of my favorite moments of late, sitting at that cafe, waiting for him to arrive from the metro right across the street, sipping a cafe au lait, wearing my favorite blue dress, butterflies in my stomach.

I know it sounds weird, but it was one of those moments when it felt like puzzle pieces of my life clicked together. A painting bought a year and half earlier, a brief parisan rendez-vous, two different moments suddenly becoming intertwined.

Happy National Holiday!

It's lovely little Luxembourg's National holiday today!

So here's to raising a glass of cremant (Luxembourgish sparkling wine) to one of my favorite little corners of the world.

Some of my favorite girls and I celebrating at another Luxembourgish festival in August

I love you, Maastricht

A cathedral of books in Maastricht, the Netherlands. I sipped coffee where the old altar stood, lost myself in the sweet silence of  paper backs and pages where pews were lined up. An old house of worship, converted, re-purposed, but still gently holding onto the reverence of its former life.

It is a beautiful place, in a beautiful city.

Happy [Belated] Fathers Day Papa E!

Happy Fathers Day to the coolest, sweat-band rockin' guy I know. 

I love you Dad!

Hopping Through Echternach

This Tuesday (known on the Christian calendar as 'Whit Tuesday'), there was the annual hopping procession of Echternach, a small Luxembourgish town on the German border. 

They've been hopping in honor of St. Wilibrord for centuries (heck, UNESCO even made it a world heritage event last year), and this year was no different. 

From 9:15am until 1:15pm, hundreds of folks danced through the streets to the same tune, holding white handkerchiefs, in the rain and sun. 

And once again, I found myself quietly amused by this little country and its customs, feeling so privileged have lived in this little piece of the world for a brief moment. 

Oostende/Ostende

What's the best remedy for a week that's left you a little out of sorts?

A quick road trip to the coast of everyone's favorite county-without-a-government  for sun, buckets of moules et frites, and lots of girl talk.

There was also a quick detour to James Ensor's house, the 19th century flemish artist who lived and died in Oostende.

You see, when I was 16, my dad showed me Ensor's famous painting 'Christ Entering Brussels' during a visit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. And believe it or not, it was seeing this piece that planted the seed that studying the history of art could actually be, really quite fun.

You better believe it was just as wonderful to see that this artist, with his quirky, crazy paintings, was just a colorful in his day-to-day life. And I bet he was a phenomenal dinner guest.