Lesson one: blowing your nose with too much vigor is a bad idea. Huge nosebleed (over the bathroom sink fortunately) which was a first for me, never seen so much blood. I've been afraid of blowing my nose for a few days now

Lesson two: go to bed when tired. I don't like coffee, and coke even less, but I've been living on caffeine at work all week now. It's against my principles, I don't like using addictive substances

Anyhow, it's the weekend! Yay, sleep! Yes, I know, boring

I am not a fan of dumb blondes jokes at all. I remember a teacher in high school who started each of his classes with a dumb blonde joke, for months in a row. Did I mention that I'm blonde?

But even I have occasional 'blonde' moments. Such as ordering a massager on amazon.co.uk and then being surprised when opening the package that it doesn't fit Belgian electrical sockets... Bummer, now I have to get a converter before I can try it out

So the "man flu" turned out to be more of a "kiddie flu": after my stomach settled down and I took some aspirin, I felt quite good again for the rest of the day. And last Friday I took a day of work to recuperate, which was gloriously lazy.

So today we're having lunch with my parents for my dad's birthday, and afterwards we're going to my grandmother's house to see which objects I would like as my inheritance from her. It's a big house, so I'll have to be efficient - very unlike me, I love to rummage

Here are some more summer roadtrip pictures, this time from the Picos de Europa (Spain). I hope you enjoy

The lovely Picos de Europa from afar:


An old Roman bridge, in a town I can't remember the name of:


Fuente Dé, 1100m of altitude being bridged by that cable (and no, I don't like heights ):


Fuente Dé, once we got up there and started hiking down:




La Garganta de Cares, a narrow ravine:






We decided to relax a little alongside a small lake:

Such a crappy night: felt queasy and got up twice tonight on the verge of... I ended up sleeping on the sofa, as lying flat on my back seemed to make matters worse. And lo and behold, a fever this morning on top of the nausea... On my way to work now, for my deadline... Seriously doubting I'll stay for the reception this afternoon or dinner, unless I feel better.
One thing's for sure: come hell or high water, I'm not going to work tomorrow!
Definitely feeling sorry for myself today, but it's allowed occasionally

8.50 pm and I only left work 20 minutes ago. And I'm exhausted (no suprise) because yesterday I worked 12 hours too. I'm very much looking forward to our new years reception tomorrow afternoon, and drinks and dinner with a colleague afterwards. This wretched deadline will haunt me till tomorrow at noon though.

Oh well, work hard play hard is what they say and that's what I'll do!
In the meantime, virtual hugs and massages are welcome

I spent most of my Sunday on work, to avoid mayhem later on in the week (very tight deadline). Not my idea of a fun Sunday, even though I enjoyed seeing my progress: it's been a very long time since I was able to work with that much focus. Mentally totally not prepared for the funeral tomorrow...
As some sweet NN'ers commented on a previous blog, I shouldn't forget to take time for myself. I will, absolutely, but it won't be this week... I'm going to Paris at the end of the month though, I can't wait!

To distract myself from less pleasant thoughts, here's the next step of our southern road trip during summer: Asturias. These are some of my favorite pictures, such a photogenic place...

Thanks everyone, for your messages of support. Feeling a bit numb at the moment, I guess my emotions shut off at a certain point, but I guess it'll all come back Monday for the funeral.

That being said, it seems inappropriate but I really need to worry at work now because of it: I have a very tight deadline and I really needed Monday to make that deadline. I might need to work at home this weekend. Going to try my best today to not procrastinate and keep my focus and concentration...

And so it came to pass... That as I had new year's eve breakfast with friends, my father called. Only 9 days after being diagnosed with cancer, refusing treatment and doctors saying it was a matter of months, my grandmother passed away last night. She had given up, and maybe the fact that her daughter (my aunt) was visiting from abroad for the holidays might have played a part, having all her children nearby.

Two grandparents in three months, the end of 2012 is one to forget in a hurry.

Whose idea was it to have a new year's eve breakfast at 9.30 AM? Bleh, I hate getting up early when I'm on holiday. Since I need some time to get up in the morning and the couple who invited us live 45 minutes away, the alarm clock went off at 7.15

And this evening dinner with my parents, so glad I don't have to cook... We're bringing the champagne

Happy New Year!