My eyebrows are eating my face!

Fear not, young readers, my face isn't being eaten by wooly caterpillars, but merely surviving a plucking moratorium in anticipation of my upcoming trip home. I have started packing and am getting very excited to fly away for a few weeks of serious goodness (friends, family, familiarity, places, speaking flag-waving-apple-pie-and-baseball English, weak dollar against the Euro, holidays, visit from my boyfriend, Black Butte, presents given, presents received, who's a lucky girl?).

I went shopping in Antwerp with my friend Alison yesterday. We caught the 7:23 train and were there just after 9:00. Very fun and fruitful, and, yes, I made us stop walking so I could say, "Take a second and think about how cool it is that, instead of doing chores or running errands, we are shopping. IN BELGIUM."

This morning I met Melanie and Guy for a trip to the flea market in the North. It was good, though not quite as good as the last time I went. I bought some Christmas presents for folks and another piece of pottery for my house. And a squirrel figurine, which might be too campy to keep.