Last Friday we were supposed to leave for Paris where we would stay a couple of days in the company of some fag buddies. But when The Frau came home from work she looked a little gloomy and she told me that her mother had double booked the flat in Paris and that we couldn’t go. I was a bit surprised by this but I didn’t have time to say anything because The Frau continued by saying she found something in her handbag. She gave me a piece of paper and it was a plane ticket to Berlin with my name on it. So, it turned out that my birthday present was a surprise trip to Berlin!

I was quite shocked because I had absolutely no idea The Frau had planned this. But it was the best surprise I ever had. It was a bit strange because I was all packed and ready to get in the car and leave for Paris so I had to rewire my brain a bit and get over the fact that in a couple of hours I would be on a plane to Berlin. What was even more shocking is that quite a few people knew and never gave me a clue (but I guess they knew they were risking The Frau killing them if they did). So, thank you girlfriend for the best present ever!

The reason why The Frau took me to Berlin is because we are both very much in love with the city. It’s so relaxed and colourful and full of terraces and cute restaurants. It’s definitely number 1 on the list of my favourite European cities. Berlin is also a very cheap city and as I thought I was going to expensive Paris I had more money to spend. Also, in Berlin the summer sales had already started so some serious shopping was done. We also attended Christopher Street Day (Gay Pride in Berlin) and walked around until our feet almost fell off. On Sunday we went to a bar to watch the German soccer team lose the European Championship to Spain, which – despite being in Berlin – made us very happy. (I don’t know that much about soccer but I like to watch it and I always support the cutest team.)

I walked around with a smile on my face most of the time because Berlin is a great city to be in and to get a trip there as a surprise birthday present from your girlfriend feels rather good. The Frau found us a flat tiny studio near Kollwitz Platz in Prenzlauerberg. And we can conclude that babies and bikes are very popular in Berlin. We hardly saw any pensioners. And I found out that my German needs some serious brushing up.

Do scroll down for the picture report.

Smoking is no longer allowed in bars in Berlin.

The Frau expanded her collection of boy briefs.

Gay Pride

Even men were heels… I don’t understand.

Yes, this is what you think it is.

Gay Pride

Soccer support

The shop was closed otherwise I would have bought the t-shirt. :-)

Berliner Weisse, The Frau’s favourite drink.

Our last time flying to Tempelhof Airport. It’s closing in January.

You’re never too old to wear All-stars, well, that’s what we like to believe anyway…

Tempelhof

Why do most women in Berlin ride on men’s bikes?

Someone bought a new handbag.

All pictures here >>
 

Every morning while I wake up I listen to the news and the weather forecast for the day and then I decide what to wear. I love doing laundry (because a machine does it for you) but I really hate ironing. So, we have to keep in mind here that most of my clothes are not ironed which substantially limits my choice of possible outfits for the day. Every workday morning I try to find something decent to wear and when I’ve put my clothes on and I look in the mirror I usually think that what I chose looks alright. But by lunchtime I start having doubts. I don’t know if it’s the mirrors at work or my colleagues who always look so impeccable and well-dressed but by the time I go home in the evening I ask myself what the hell I was wearing that day… It’s been like this every day this week, maybe it’s because it’s so warm and my body doesn’t agree with summer clothes… I don’t know.

But what we can conclude out of this is that I’m 30 years old and I have no style. My family isn’t really known for its sense of style (you should see my cousins, compared to them I always look gorgeous) so maybe it’s genetic (but I bet my sister will contradict that) (to which I would reply – to keep the peace – that there are always exceptions). Or maybe it’s because I’m a lesbian. That’s just the thing, when I’m at work and I compare my look to my female colleagues I always feel like such a lesbian. And up until now I always thought: well, this is just the way I am and this is my style. But the truth is that I’m ready for some serious re-styling. You could think that a couple of days in Paris with some fag buddies is a good start, but let me tell you that I’m nowhere near ready for gay exuberance in my clothing style. (And the particular fag buddies who are joining us in Paris this weekend are not that kind of fags, or at least they hide it well.)

A while ago I was talking to one of my perfectly outfitted colleagues and the topic was shoes. I’m a lesbian so I wear sensible shoes, it’s our thing. Believe me when I tell you that I have tried wearing non-sensible shoes and it hurt like hell. But it appears to me that straight women have no problem with wearing high heels and flimsy sandals, so what is their secret? Well, when my colleague told her mother that she was going to keep a pair of very comfortable shoes in her office to wear at work her mother said: don’t you dare spoil your feet like that! So, it is actually all about suffering (and I don’t feel like suffering). And my mother never told me not to spoil my feet.

If only I was Bette Porter.

Over at TLQ we decided to come out. We’re sharing coming out stories. Do feel free to share yours.

Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon, best known for her role as Miranda on the long-running television series Sex and the City, has joined Susan G. Komen for the Cure® as an Ambassador. The daughter of a two-time breast cancer survivor and a survivor herself, Cynthia will help raise awareness and encourage others to join the movement to end breast cancer forever.

“Talk with your doctor, make healthy lifestyle choices and most importantly, know your body as that can make all the difference in the world.” – Cynthia Nixon

A message for gay women
Gay women face unique issues when dealing with breast cancer.

www.komen.org/cynthia

This is how these people describe Dykes And The City: Blog provides discussion and commentary about television and fashion for homosexual women in Belgium.

Television? Of course! But fashion? Don’t get me wrong, I think Christian Siriano is super fierce (but Rami is the better draper) but I know nothing about fashion at all, not even about fashion for homosexual women. And since when are we not called lesbians anymore? But I do live in Belgium.

Nevertheless, thanks for the homosexual linkove!

A few things have happened since I last checked in. I am now a thirtysomething and my girlfriend hasn’t dumped me for a younger model yet. Hooray. She also hasn’t given me my birthday present yet. I’m getting it this weekend when we’re in Paris and I have no idea what it will be but I’m expecting a lot, obviously. We will be attending the Gay Pride in Paris, together with some fag buddies. This will make a nice change to all the soccer we’ve been watching lately. I’ve been feeling like such a dyke. Well, I am one of course but when you have a tendency to hang out with gay men while drinking (mostly pink) bubbly drinks it comes as a bit a shock to find yourself sitting in the couch while watching soccer and drinking beer from a bottle. We were not the only ones doing that, mind you. The dykes from across the street have been watching as much soccer as we have. We don’t know them personally but we can see what they’re watching through the window because they don’t appear to be in the possession of curtains. Dykes and their TV, it’s such a good combination. (But you already knew that, right?)

Speaking of which, this weekend we started watching Sugar Rush (thank you After Ellen for the tip) and it’s hilarious. It tells the story of “a 15-year old gay virgin who is sexually obsessed with her best friend called Sugar”. It definitely gets the D&tC approval seal and I advice you all to watch it. Not today of course because today is a gorgeous sunny day but now that I’m 30 I kid myself a lot less and I accept that it’s probably going to start raining again tomorrow.

As you can probably imagine I’ve been getting quite a lot of ‘how does it feel to be 30?’ kind of questions. And I have to say that it does feel different. Now that I’m 30 I’m beginning to realize that the future is now. I’ve had a good run so far and even though I’m actually very happy with my life as it is now, I will be looking to make some changes. Changes as in wanting to spend a couple of my thirtysomething years in another country. I’m working on it, so let’s all cross our lesbian fingers and hope for the best. I do want to take this cheesy moment to thank all of the people who came to our birthday party and gave us fabulous gifts. I shall share some of the less embarrassing (= not many) pictures on Facebook later this week.

I can also happily announce you that I shed a few pounds since we last virtually saw each other. Turning 30 is so motivating (especially when you plan a party and you want to look good for it). After the party I did let my discipline slide for a little while. But I’ve got a new goal now (a bikini holiday with my mother-in-law) so I’m back with full force working on my body of steel. The Wii Fit really is a fun way to get your lazy ass out of the couch, I can vouch for that. (And the rhythmic boxing is perfect for blowing of steam while pretending you’re hitting an annoying colleague.)

In other more dyke-related news: On Sunday there will be an After Ellen Meet-Up in Paris! And we will be in Paris… Unfortunately Jill Bennett is not coming but I wouldn’t mind shaking hands with Bridget McManus either. But we do have fag buddies to entertain that day so we’ll have to see. Of course that thing I just wrote about our fag buddies is just a lame excuse because The Frau and I are actually not so big on mingling with large crowds of lesbians. Especially if some of the lesbians are of internet fame. But, you never know… it’s Pride Weekend and there will be fag buddies which means there will be bubbles which means I might be slightly scandalously drunk in the afternoon which means that we might possibly go…

Oh, and don’t forget to get your tickets for Blondie! I know, it’s a festival and all that but seeing Debby Harry really is worth it (I hope). Tonight we’re going to see Elbow and I’m taking my brand new camera (thank you for the Fnac vouchers, fabulous fag buddies) to film some of my favourite tunes (and share with you later).

Bye.

Even though June is unannounced official non-blogging month at D&tC (yeah, sorry about that but I’m 30 now and I need to prioritize), I have to urge you to click here for extreme hotness.

It’s hot in our office building. There is no airco (which is good for the environment but not for our body temperature) and with the humid heat of the past couple of days our office feels more like a mild sauna at times. I’m a civil servant and a lesbian, which means that I always wear suitable but comfortable outfits. I guess you could say I’m a blouse and pants kind of girl and I also don’t have a tendency to show a lot of flesh in the workplace (it’s so untoward). Basically this means that at work I don’t wear skirts (well, I never ever wear skirts), I don’t wear t-shirts and I always wear long pants. This unfortunately also means that I suffer from the heat twice as much as my skirt and t-shirt wearing colleagues. But this week I’ve been sweating so profusely that this morning I decided to go for a short-sleeved cleavaged t-shirt top. Needless to say most of my colleagues were in shock when I arrived this morning, this prompted one of them to ask me whether I had plans to attempt some ‘promotion canapé’ today. (Promotion canapé means sleeping your way to the top.) Mind you, this is the same colleague who just last week told me I had a fat ass.

We were strolling in the park during our lunch hour and we saw a rather skinny jogger running past us and my colleague remarked that this guy had no ass at all and then he continued by telling me that his wife always says that he has a very tiny behind as well (I know, too much information). And then he turned to check my ass and he dryly said: yeah, you do have a fat ass. I took it with a smile (because that’s what I do). I strongly believe that letting your colleagues have some fun at your expense from time to time improves the overall work spirit. Or so I tell myself.

In other news, I found a way to trick myself into feeling that commuter trains are punctual. For the second day in a row I have been leaving 1 minute earlier than usual in the morning and both times I’ve been able to catch an earlier train (than the one I had planned to take) that was actually late but did leave earlier and brought me to Brussels earlier than I had planned. (Get it?) This also had the advantage that I didn’t even have to wait for the train to arrive; even better, it felt like the train was waiting for me to arrive before it left. Commuting is such a source of unlimited joy.

It’s true what they say: letting The People decide something is NEVER a good idea (look at our prime minister) but I had faith in The Lord. Unfortunately The Lord let me down. When Andrew Lord Webber chose Samantha over Rachel in yesterday’s I’d Do Anything the TV at Casa Dykes nearly broke down under the loud wave of Boo’s it had coming its way. (Or as Tracey Jordan would say: that’s untoward! That’s not toward!)

What were these televoters thinking? Choosing Jessie over Rachel? Rachel Tucker was by far the hottest TV 2.0 contestant ever. I guess you could say that at Casa Dykes we had the hots for Rachel and we thought she was the best. She wasn’t very popular with the audience though and I did see her exit coming. It’s just so unfortunate that she was in the sing-off with Samantha. But The Lord really let us down. I’m not a musical fan and I don’t really care who’s best for the part of Nancy, I actually don’t even know who Nancy is because I’ve never seen Oliver. But I do love reality TV and I also love it when pretty girls sing songs on TV. And I love the gayness of Graham Norton and John Barrowman. And I never missed an episode of I’d Do Anything. I even learnt how to program our DVD-recorder for it. But no more Rachel? That sucks.

Oh well, I’ll be rooting for Jodie now. But I swear that if Jessie wins I’ll find some way of boycotting the UK and its crazy televoters. Rachel, the dykes love you!

The Frau threatened to no longer cook her delicious dinners for me if I didn’t pick up the meme she virtually sent my way. Obviously I don’t want to risk starving to death, so here we go: 7 songs I’ve been listening to a lot lately.

1/ You’ll Find A Way * Santogold (Santogold) (mp3)
I have a tendency to Believe The Hype and I’m glad I believed the Santogold hype. I think I’m in love and I hope I get to  see her play live somewhere soon because seeing this youtube video left me craving so much more:

2/ You Cheated Me * Martha Wainwright (I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too) (mp3)
I couldn’t find a video for this song yet but that’s okay because Martha’s coming to Brussels next week and we’re going to see her. Yay. I hope (in vain) that a Martha Wainwright concert is to the dykes what a Rufus Wainwright concert is to the fags (but I know better) (I think the gig’s not sold out yet so you can all still buy tickets).

3/ Magic Doors * Portishead (Third) (mp3)
Oh my, this song is so gorgeous it makes me perspire. What also helps is that I think Beth Gibbons looks likes such a lesbian in this clip:

4/ Up! * M83 (Saturdays = Youth) (mp3)
Again, I couldn’t find a clip (or maybe I just suck at using YouTube) (I am almost 30 you know) for this song but I do want to share it because it has such a nostalgic 80ies intro and it’s Summer In A Song (and it just started raining).

5/ Kids * MGMT (Oracular Spectacular) (mp3)
The tick-tock of my biological clock is becoming louder and louder so I had to have a song named Kids in this post. I actually have no idea what it’s about but this has been a massive sing-a-long hit at Casa Dykes for a while now. It’s My Song Of The Year (so far).

6/ I Will Possess Your Heart * Death Cab For Cutie (Narrow Stairs) (mp3)
Last night I was watching an episode of Ugly Betty (yes, it has finally grown on me and I love it now) and I found out (once again) that Death Cab For Cutie is very popular with teenage characters of American prime time Tv shows. Last weekend we went to the Fnac to buy the CD and it was already sold out. I think it’s wonderful that a (former) indie band with nerdy members and a silly name has become so popular. And I love this song.

7/ The Bones Of You * Elbow (The Seldom Seen Kid) (mp3)
My love for Elbow is no secret. I love all the songs of their last album but I had to pick one so I picked The Bones Of You because of the line “and it’s you and it’s me and we’re sleeping through the day”. It’s my new motto in life.

In other (GREAT) music news: Blondie is coming to Belgium!

And oh, I’m tagging all the dykes who read this.

Thanks to the NMBS I don’t have to go to work today. Being a civil servant I never stress over train strikes anyway, I actually quite enjoy them. Thanks to the NMBS I even have time for blogging today, not that I’ve been so extremely busy lately. I guess I’m suffering from spring laziness (a condition I prefer over fall depression, so I’m not complaining). So, what’s been happening in this corner of Dykeland? We spent a super hot weekend in Paris (not hot in the sense of dyke action – the flat was packed with fag buddies), the sun was shining so hard that we did nothing but drink (way too expensive) Mojiotos and hang around in parks. I also went to the hair dresser by myself (normally The Frau accompanies me) and I told the woman who was cutting my hair that I didn’t want it too short and then she cut of almost ALL my hair. I guess my French isn’t as good as I thought it was. But I’m over it now and ever since my boss gave me a compliment about it I’ve embraced my summer hair. We did of course also stop by Les Mots à la Bouche and I bought the book ‘Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary‘. I haven’t read it yet because, well, I don’t read books but The Frau seems to be pretty caught up in it. Gay Power!

Last weekend Frau Genau and I played at the Gay Pride party at the AB, I was a bit shocked by the entrance fee of 15 EUR but when I was told how much it costs to rent the AB for a night I completely understood (and we didn’t have to pay anyway, we even got a T-shirt). Organizing parties seems to become more and more expensive, no wonder there are hardly any. We didn’t go to the parade in the afternoon because it was raining (I know, so much for supporting the cause no matter what) but just from going to the party I can tell you that Gay Pride in Belgium isn’t what it used to be. I’ve been going for more than 10 years and maybe it’s because we feel that we don’t really have that much left to fight for these days (Belgium is very kind to the gays) (you should see how many lesbians there are currently on prime time TV shows) but it just doesn’t feel the same as it used to. I guess I’ve also become less easily impressed (I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but I’m turning 30 in less than 3 weeks :-)) and of course Belgium isn’t France. We’re just a small country with too many governments and ugly politicians who argue over silly things like languages. For the last three years we’ve attended the Paris Pride and I can tell you that is something else entirely. Hundreds of thousands of fags and (occasionally topless) dykes who dance in the street all day long. Pride spirit allover the place… Of course it doesn’t help that all the youngsters and hipsters went to Bitchy Butch and the lesbians went to The L Party, I’m all for diversity but as we are such a small country I think Gay Pride day is a good day to join forces and all party together. Gay Power!

I do have to thank The Frau (once again) for doing all the work (once again). There were a few technical problems in the beginning of our her set and the Sabam inspectors didn’t really help, but she did great. We weren’t exactly playing for our usual audience but we got some people shaking in the end. Gay Power!

No, not that kind of packing. (Packing is such a versatile verb.) I’m talking about The Hotpack, well technically it’s a ColdHot Pack because you can also put it in the freezer but I prefer to put it in the microwave oven and enjoy it as hot as possible. Now that I’m going through the “Saturn Return” (Tnx for the tip Ms. Post No Bills) and my latest shoulder ordeal has been causing me quite some pain The HotPack is like a gift from heaven. It feels so incredibly good. It is quite addictive though because last night I found myself telling The Frau that I couldn’t remember what life was like before The HotPack.

When I arrived at work yesterday and I showed it to my cellmate she wanted to use it straight away and a few hours later she had purchased her own at the pharmacy across the street. You should see us sitting here, both sighing with relief as our HotPacks do their soothing work on our necks and shoulders. Sweet bliss. I’ve also been taking it to bed the past 3 nights and normally I always fall asleep with The Frau in my arms but it seems that now I don’t need that anymore (much to the delight of The Frau by the way, she likes her space in bed).

I do fear that soon 1 HotPack won’t be enough for me anymore and that I will have to cover my entire body with hotness to feel the same sense of relief that 1 HotPack gives me today. My cellmate also told me that you can buy Maxi HotPacks at the pharmacy that can cover your entire back. Oh my, just the thought of taking that to bed…

I’m not even creative with titles anymore, oh my. Anyway, about 30 days until I turn 30 and it’s like the universe is letting me know that I really am getting older. True to my lesbian self I got injured again over the weekend but untrue to lesbianism in general I didn’t hurt myself playing soccer or softball. I hurt myself while lying on the beach. It’s so anti-climactic, I know, and it paints a very lazy picture of me. But it’s what happened (and I wouldn’t want to alter the truth for my blog, oh no). A sweet fag buddy invited us to spend a day at the seaside with him, so we did and in true fag buddy style the first thing he did when we arrived was pop a bottle of bubbles. Good times, right… but I bet that if I hadn’t been downing alcohol that day I wouldn’t have fallen asleep on the beach and my old bones wouldn’t have hurt so much on Monday.

In fact, when I woke up on Monday I couldn’t get out of bed at all. I guess you could say that’s just business as usual at Casa Dykes on a Monday morning, but this time I literally couldn’t get out of bed without The Frau pushing and pulling me out. Apparently a muscle in my shoulder got blocked which made me rather moving-impaired. But as I said before I’m trying to be positive these days, even when bad things happen so I decided to take it with a smile (and a couple of happy pills) and spend Monday and Tuesday in a deck chair on our terrace. So, when I got out of the shower this morning while The Frau was brushing her teeth she endearingly told me that now I was her little lobster. I guess you could say I forgot the sunscreen… But The Frau was kind enough to stay home and wait on me on Monday; I know you can’t really tell by looking at her (or reading my blog) but sometimes she’s really sweet. I’m back at work today and almost all my colleagues asked whether I had been playing too much tennis on the Wii. (Exactly as I had predicted yesterday afternoon while burning up on my terrace and thinking about what their reactions might be.)

Anyway, this latest ordeal has increased my conviction that until I actually turn 30 a few more inconvenient things will happen to me. Physically 2008 really hasn’t been my year yet; I got bronchitis in Miami. I had something unspeakable that hurt like hell a couple of months ago and now this. I do wonder what else the God of Dykes has in store for me. And why she is so set on letting me know that youth is slipping away from me. I don’t really mind being almost 30; I honestly believe that it beats being 20 and doing all sorts of silly things. But I hadn’t expected my body to go downhill that much.

Also, after a long debate with myself I decided to invite my colleagues to my birthday party (it’s not really something we generally do here at work) so I would already like to ask everyone who is attending to not out me as Dykes And The City. I mean, some of them don’t even know I’m a dyke yet, let alone Dykes And The City.

Something else now: who’s up for a game of soccer? Maybe next week (if the weather stays the same)? Or maybe I shouldn’t play anymore seeing as I am so prone to injury and soccer isn’t the kindest of sports (if I remember correctly).

Has a week gone by again? I guess spring is in the air and my blog is suffering from it. Let’s hope I don’t go down the same route as last year when I decided to actually quit blogging. But I have faith in myself and I also believe that dykes don’t make the same mistake twice. I’d refer you to my girlfriend’s blog for when things are a bit slow here but, ahum, I guess she’s busy being called darling at work and basking in the afterglow of that when she comes home. (The Frau has a new colleague who calls her darling and it’s not missing its effect.)

As for MY colleagues, well, I try not to blog about them (I really do) but when my cell mate decides to play Vlaamse Schlagers (I don’t know how to translate that and I don’t really want to waste my time thinking about it, I’ll just define it as music your grandparents will probably like) all day I need to vent, a lot. I love my cell mate, she’s the best cell mate I’ve ever had and we get along really well but she’s really taking things too far with this. I don’t think our office relationship can handle this kind of outrageous behaviour.

I’d actually prefer to listen to the new Madonna and that’s not a treat either. I’ve tried liking it but it’s really quite horrible. I gave it every chance; in fact I think I already gave it about 10 full listening sessions. The last one was last night on the train home but I had to stop listening because I already had a headache and Hard Candy wasn’t making it any better. It’s like all the songs you didn’t really like on her previous albums (but you forgave her for because she’s Madonna after all) have been gathered on one album. This pains me more than I can say because I adore Madonna. But Hard Candy is just so bad that even hardcore Madonna fans like me don’t enjoy it. Or maybe I just don’t get. That must be it.

In Wii news, I bought the Wii Fit last weekend and I’m loving it. But, surprise surprise, I’ve already hurt myself. Last night while I was doing some lunges I felt something in my left heel. Instead of accepting the signal my body sent me and throwing myself in the couch for the rest of the evening, I just had to continue. (When I go I like to go all the way.) So I finished my work out and I actually forgot about my heel until this morning when I got off the train. Getting off the train in the morning is already a pretty bad moment in the day because I have to open my eyes and start thinking about reality instead of how much Padma wants me, and of course getting off the train with pain in my foot doesn’t help the situation. I’m trying to stay positive about it though (it’s the new me). I have to go to my Photoshop class tonight and our class room is on the fourth floor so I will have a good excuse to use the elevator. You see, it’s all about being happy with the small things in life. It’s never been my specialty but it’s growing on me. (I guess someone’s pushing 30.)