happily ever after ~

...and they lived happily ever after...

...on a day where pictures of the royal wedding are found all around the web,

I almost feel compeled to mention something relating to it.

...did not watch it {we have no t.v}

...saw pictures of it though,

...and found HER extremely beautiful, sweet, elegant and quite simple.

Adored her dress but mostly her inner glowing.

And then I came across the picture above with its inviting warmth...

just lovely!

...hope you've had a lovely Friday watching THE wedding or not

{perhaps even attending it or not;)}

...had a very communicative, fun and sweet day with a {second} new person

who jumped out of the screen and landed softly into my reality.

Share, talk & interact more soon...

I need a rest for now my dears...blink - blink...

Have a good night & start in the weekend ~

picture credit: pinterest

Basics

...well, after all this super celebrating mood over at the FB page today {thank you to all 118 - so far -incredibly kind, encouraging and lovely people having joined}, I thought I bring myself to writing an actual post today. That would be nice, right ;)

To start with, as I came across this graciously elegant, modern, curvy and oh so stylish "Loungechair", 

made from coconut twigs and designed from Clayton Tugunon,

all I could think off was how much I adore its shape and then also how familiar it looks to me.

...searching through my brain's chambers I found another lounging chair that I not only love as much, but also am the owner off. It is the P.S collection VAGÖ from Ikea and mine is longing for my next visit in Greece, since it resides on the balkony of apart44, or else my parents house & my summer sanctuary {renovated/ designed / decorated & organised by me}

Wonderful....how do these facts bring me to the picture above?

Well, after putting this two chairs virtually next to one another,

I remembered how much I like to combine:

~ dark natural wood with white plastic

&

~ white with brown in general.

So, around I walked our little home and picked five objects to demostate to you this love of mine:

{starting from the bottom}

1 ~> a brown pillow from {Ikea}

2 ~> a white pillow with a rich texture  from {Bemz}

3 ~>a  patterned pillow {sewn from Habitat cotton teatowels}

4 ~> a plastic box {Fletcher design - purchased at Habitat}

5 ~> and a a wooden bangle or else my almost daily accessory all year long from {Pull & Bear}

In the background you can see this ceramic vase, standing on such a mini shelf.

Don't they look nice together?

The play of textures and patterns is my way of spicing up colour choices that otherwise are in danger of being considered dull. I do think the result is simmultaneously pleasing, stimulating but also calming to the eye.

What do you think?

Do you love naturals as much and if yes, what do you do to give them "life" and bring them forward?

Looking forward to your replies!

Have a great day and thank you once more for all your support.

~ on a Facebook fun page

well, it's been a long day in front of the computer today and I must admit this makes me a little tired.

As a person I need exchange between doing things {still mostly one at a time} 

and by this I do not mean virtually jumping from working on pictures, to posting them on flickr,

to checking etsy, to seeking inspiration on pinterest, to writing blog posts, 

to writing {just a very couple of} 

mails and to finally creating a Facebook page for this place here.

I mean actually being involved in working on decoration or crafting projects.

Or even in photography.

It has been worth it though, as I have been for far too long wanting to do so.

Spring is always a good time for new beginnings or taking up things from there where we left them.

After long weeks of "sleeping over" the matter of on line existence and the multiple platforms of doing so,

it has come naturally that I'm clear enough to proceed with this.

I'm not afraid of the possible exposure anymore and I'm ready and willing to embrace all the possibilities that  such mediums offer to people like us, including me.

I'd like to stay longer and chat, but after already having had dinner and done the dishes

{damn you broken dish washer!}

I need a rest from typing and soon from the screen altogether.

I just wanted to let you know these couple of things:

1~ I felt very, very touched and happy by the comments left on today's recent post

{which also brought me to getting to know a little tiny bit the incredibly lovely person behind this magical photograph}

2 ~ I'd be extremely thankful and appreciative if you took the time to visit the Facebook Fun Page created today and be so nice as to "like" it {that is only and if you really do so ;)}

while also suggesting it to your friends or 

people you might think would like to read and see some of the things posted here.

3 ~ starting next week I'll be going back to school, completing the last week of {almost} daily morning German classes I have started 6 weeks ago, something which includes a certain amount of studying and practising, too. So unless I start posting in German,

 I'll try to keep the posts here short and more focused on pictures.

{and now I hope that if my German teacher is reading that, 

she'll be happy for me taking her class so seriously ;)}

Till then, there is time for posting, but also lots of other projects are waiting to be completed. So I had better keep the balance, if you know what I mean.

Hope to talk more with you all soon!

I'm so grateful and happy for the comments you share :)

Have a wonderful evening.

P.S: the photo of ridiculously happy me dealing with my creations, sitting in our sofa corner is made by JCN, or else my very low profiled companion, whom I very dearly thank for the successful photoshooting at 8 o' clock of what was a normal weekday.

photographic memories

... teaching myself photography

  &

being involved in online communities like flickr,

{to mention only but one of the very many}

which I happen to consider the most communicative and educative one at the same time,

make it alsmost impossible to forget the value of photography as a form of art.

Undoubtably there are numerous artists out there which create breathtaking pieces of art,

putting into use:

~ a fabulous sense of perspective

~  an eye that sees more than what is commonly noticed,

~ an eye that is there to serve the heart and the mind,

~ and then come the mediums,

~ a lens & a camera body, 

~ film and of course today 

~ digital photography & post processing.

Not to forget the most valuable ingredient in creating stunning photography,

{allow me to exclude from this discussion night photography}

a good appreciation and use of natural light.

So, photography as a form of art ~> checked

...and then comes the madness of our consuming societies,

with victims like myself, who try hard to prioritise and buy the essentials,

resisting overconsumerism and buying just for the mere pleasure of it 

{oh how often do I fail!}

while at the same time being insanely in love with beauty & style.

Quite hard to achieve my goal, considering the endless possibilities offered around us.

And lately, it's even easier, with just the click of a button,

on a virtual shopping cart.

...to get right back to my point, had it not been for gorgeous photography accompanying the products,

had it not been the super clever advertising methods of "selling people dreams",

most of us would harldy be so tempted.

But as lots of us are visual types, we are enjoying our dosis of "eye candy"

and indulging in it.

Therefore, photography as a means of advertising and promoting products: ~  also checked

All fine and all well, but in between all this, could it be that we have perhaps forgotten a little bit the simplest of the purpose that photography serves?

That of keeping memories alive.

I remembered this morning...and searched to retrieve this picture {3rd in the row above} of my mother & seven year old me...somewhere on Easter vacation in one of Greece's breathtaking places.

...and then with Mother's day approaching, I couldn't help thinking that together with every present that we'll come up to offer to our mothers, wouldn't it be nice to include an old photo of us together?

Or perhaps, arrange a fun visit to a photoboot together and make new ones...

...and then as nice as you are {and hopefully a little handy},

 build her such a displaying board,

as the one seen in the second picture {above}.

Finally, a simpler gesture, to buy and offer her such a romantic picture as {this one}.

What do you think? 

Are you still in touch with this fundamental purpose of photography?

Are you going over old family photos once in a while, 

as much as you loose yourselves among visual candy?

Are you displaying some of your favorite pictures,

 related to you and moments of your life?

Are you cherishing fragments of your past, 

as much as your present and your future to come?

...meaning are you cherishing all that you are?

recently I have...and it seems to be unlocking step by step many of the blockades,

which came up intensly and shouted to me to start dealing with them.

And now my boss {in this case myself} is urging me to work and deal with my projects,

after publishing this post and wishing you a lovely day ahead.

Have a great one!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo credit: 1. Lucy Snow Photography 2. via 3. Stratos Nassopoulos {aka my dad}

~ minimalistic dreaming

Teusday evening...thank you all for your very kind comments about {the little feature of mine} in Lohas magazine, which has made me very happy.

Both the feature itself, sharing it with you and then receiving your warm response.

I'm so glad to be back {here}...{here}...

{there}...and {there}, too.

...saying goodnight with two pictures that are growing under my skin since I saw them a while ago on {Pinterest}:

a minimal bedroom in Greece photographed by Vangelis Paterakis

and the airiest of dresses in my favorite {non}colour, nude

originally posted {here}

Sweet dreams...

~ West meets East

via

As  promised earlier today, I'll reveal what is the story behind this picture.

Ready?

...being featured on some kind of printed press is a very happy occassion for all people like  us {and not only of course!};

meaning people who are gradually developing a profession out of a passion, a hobby or simply out of doing what we can best and love with all our hearts.

When approached by one of the editors of LOHAS  magazine just a little bit before our Christmas trip to Rome,

I felt very excited, lucky and honoured to have been asked to participate in their upcoming monthly special feature.

A feature about eco friendly and handmade all the way packaging.

Wonderful I thought!

It fell as a Santa Clause 's present on my plate,

as those days I was spending  incredible amounts of time

packing in a very personalised and special manner packages for the etsy shop's orders,

my direct custom orders from friends (and very encouraging and loyal customers!), 

 as much as for two and more handfull of friends all around the globe.

I was enjoying every minute but tiredness had already begun knocking on my door.

My partner was commenting that he didn't understand the reason into doing this 

and as much as this didn't take away the happiness of the process,

it did leave me with a heart kind of heavy.

So why have I been doing this?

Why have I been creating one of a kind, personalised packages for all my friends and customers while recycling and reusing every kind of paper that we had?

From vintage music sheets, to catalogue pages made of already recycled paper...to natural string and jute...to...to...to?

Given an eco consiousness included, it basically gave me pleasure. Simply like that. 

It felt right. 

The most important reason though is that packaging instantly became a form of art itself.

Taking into consideration the choices each person had made, I tried to create a second present, this being the wrapping. It was my communicative way to express care and attention.

And this is what made the proccess worthwhile.

Christmas and life itself is about giving,

and that was an effort to give the best part of myself I could.

I'm so happy it somehow got noticed. 

Very honoured to be part of a publication, which focuses on Lifestyle of Health and Sustainable Living.

The whole magazine is gorgeous!

With all the glamour of a lifestyle magazine, still with a distinguisable quality easily noticed.

That of a more humanitarian approach to fashion, interiors & styling.

Aiming at waking up consiousnesses.

...and here goes a little travelling adventure:

the copies of the magazines travelled in between Hong Kong and Europe a couple of times until they reached my hands, due to them arriving subscribed when both my parter and I were away from home.

Him on one of his almost montlly trips around the world (this year he was actually in Hong Kong when the magazine was available there, but couldn't find an issue) and me in Greece, dealing with a very tired, nostalgic and low in energy self. 

Spring is here and together with it the copies of the magazine.

...and a most delightful and thoughtful present:

a mini book with thoughts and expressions about Love.

Isn't it wonderful how things are brought together sometimes?

...seemingly effortlessly, naturally, but certainly with lots of work having previously been done.

As for the interview, I'd like to share here the few questions and answers that are stated in the feature.

 Still the editor has to be contacted again to find out which of the many questions that I had originally answered are actually included.

Sometime in a next post my friends....

Till then, have a great evening and take a look at {this}

Love quotes...

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence."

 quote by Erich Fromm

eventhough the expression "problem of human existence" puzzles me a bit

- why should our existence be considered problematic any way? -

that love is an answer to many things {problems, too}

 is certainly something not to deny

....more on the picture later my dears...

have a great start in the week 

&

hope you've spent a marvelous Easter holiday!

happy Easter ~ simple + easy

via

when somebody is not exactly a tradiotional housewife like me,

simple + easy, last minute solutions

for creating a seasonal atmosphere can prove to be

life savers.

having not decorated any eggs,

I still wanted to bring a happy Easter note @ home this morning.

stripes of pretty patterned paper & wavy scissors 

came to the rescue and attached themselves on the simple, white, egg bowls (from Ikea)

A pencil gave my handwriting "bones & flesh"

and voila:

Happy Easter!

                                                                  

...wishes from my favorite corner

...just passing by to wish you all a Happy Easter!

...no bunnies and further deco in our place this year,

but after a good {evergoing!} Spring cleaning,

painting the kitchen and reading corner (the one pictured above)

in fresh white and some reorganising,

it feels fresh, airy and light enough

as Spring days should be.

What did you do today?

we spent the day @ home,

enjoying - unusually - gorgeous weather,

catching sunrays at the veranda.

I worked on some projects,

and prepared for a grilling in the early evening.

Just three people is enough to be a croud in our little balkony,

but I enjoyed it to bits.

Him {my boyfriend/companion/person I live with}, his father and me.

I did the vegetables - green peppers, aubergines, mushrooms

he did the meat {no fasting this year obviously}

....hmmm, he did the potatoes, too.

...drank beer

 {love drinking cold beer when the warm weather calls for it!}

...made some pictures,

...prepared Greek coffees for the two men

...and served it with Makedonikos Halvas,

a specialty to lick your fingers and forget all about colories.

...cleaned up

...washed the dishes {our dish washer seems to be on a long strike}

...watched an episode of Top Gear with him

and here I am posting again.

Lovely....it feels just so right lately

It's been a week since I've been freely but regularly posting

and it works well.

And I'm happy for the new readers, like very happy,

which is rather unlike me,

but I am.

Thank you for coming on board :)

my design love story

{left picture - right picture}

need I say more?

Today I came through this beautiful picture of Annaleena's 

stunning home.

And it made me think why is it that I feel so comfortable, so happy, 

so identified with her approach to home styling and decoration.

This wonderfully creative woman certainly lives in a place,

 where I would gladly be living into as well, should...the circumstances be appropriate

{don't you love the discrete way in which I avoid talking about financial issues? ;)}

To make the long story short,

despite the super obvious differences between such facts as:

~ owning a real house vs renting a tiny loft penthouse apartment

~ having fabulous furniture vs just using "what we had from our previous places

until we move to our own home"

~ mastering decorational details vs attempting to master them,

I can see clearly which quidelines we both follow, 

and what we love. Namely:

~ white

~ chalkboard black paint

~ natural wood

~ straight & clean lines

~ curves, particularly circles

~ details from organic materials like cotton, string e.t.c

~ and a love for handwritting!

If you visit this set of pictures here, you'll understand better what I mean.

Anneleena writes at her personal blog, annaleena's hem - 

and posts monthly at Emma's design blogg

under "Try this at home" series.

Fabulous!

............................................................................................................

P.S1: there's another blog I'm totally in love with: Maja's Adventurous Design Quest, who has been such an incredible darling into patiently waiting for my o.k to post our little Penthouse among her other awesome choices! 

P.S2: I'm NOT forgetting my promises about making a correct "about me" section here and sharing some of my thoughts, experiences & happenings, while I was away from publicly posting & blogging for the first three months of this year. 

At the moment, I'm really enjoying this effortless and unproblematic way of sharing. It really makes me smile and I'm loving my posts a lot. I hope it is all right for you, too! I also hope that you are still reading, as it is relatively quiet lately. 

BUT, if you are a new reader and want to find out a little bit more about me, you can read my etsy shop's announcement {here} and flickr profile{here}.

Have fun and thank you!

                         ............................................................................................................

...tempted...

Hello in the middle of the week,

 just a breath away from Easter Holidays!

Some fresh news arrived in my mailbox...

The h&m and Swedish Hasbeens collaboration is out there,

meaning available in the shops and on line in a few European countries.

What do you think?

                                      ...certainly tempted but not convinced yet, 
                                      ...would like to try them on first
                                      ...think they might be adding a nice length
                                      ...providing this mostly wanted relaxed sexyness
                                      ...smells already like summer to me
                                      ...the thermometer has climbed to 27 C° today
                                      ...pinch me!

............................................................................................................

P.S: it feels nice to write a few thoughts while coming across something I like and instantly sharing it here. I guess I can call it Instant choices, yeah?

Style Stories: rock my world!...gently, please!

Goodmorning :) 

I hope you've all had joyful weekends!

Mine could have used a little bit of more sunshine around, but I'd rather not complain.

 Have you had the time to follow the links mentioned on Friday and find yourselves among champagne, colours and cool places? 

I hope you did and enjoyed as much as I did!

Speaking about colours, you must know by now how much I love a natural pallete, greys,

tranquil blues combined with earthy beiges & pastels, too.

Since about a week know, I' ve been undusting the shelves of my etsy shop....

and boy! has there been lots of dust to take care of!

As you may understand, doing such a job is not exactly my happiest routine, 

eventhough I'm always pleased with the outcome.

So what do I do to cope with this? 

I engage in small "games" in the vastness of etsy world,

called Etsy treasuries,

in order to make the ride more pleasant and worthwhile.

I take my detective glasses and set out to discover beautiful items for homes and our lives.

Modern and vintage items for home decor, utility objects,

incredibly pretty and affordable fine art photography prints,

clothes and acessories

and then...

have them arranged together so that they make up a unique sum

of what is usually 16 objects.

It's something like a mood board, cause all of the items featured each time

could be part of a room, a home & a person living in it.

It's like making a Style story.

For example, chek out this treasury recently put together under the name

"Rock my world...gently please!"

I can picture clearly a woman dressed in her 50's dress, 

wearing such glasses when she wants to read,

under the light of this industrial chandelier,

dressing her little daughter in a grey dress like this,

{which is actually mummy's blouse}

who helps her in the kitchen using these scoops from natural wood,

takes her notes in "ruler notebooks", 

while she speaks on such a phone, 

serves her girlfriends tea from such a teapot,

decorates her home with prints and photographs like 

this, this, that and this one,

and sits her guests in a garden with such chairs.

Oh!..and reminds herself of life's qualities 

by displaying such words 

to match with her repurposed

pencil holder

Wishing you lots of fun visiting the links!

In the meantime, I'll have to set off for a busy day and return here in the evening.

Have a great day.

...among champagne, colours & cool places

7 good things for the weekend


1~ some minty fresh air from my pinterest...thank you ladies Anastasia & Ez
2~ some tranquil blues and earthy beiges in my latest curated etsy treasury
3~ insight and thoughts I found reasonating with mine here {Cristina you are amazing!}
4~ ideas for corners and displays in one of my ever favorite Dutch homes by one of the most sympathic bloggers and brilliant interior designers {Desire rocks!}
5~ great interior (and not only) ideas here, often posted by a new friend in my -actual- life :)
6~ asseccories and photography to die for by a quickly emerging Greek designer, who happens to be my first cousin {I could burst from admiration and pride!}
7~ sweet, refreshing & funky music by Fool for Champagne


Have a great one!
     

Comforting light

...when we feel that things are hard, what do we usually do?

We seek for comfort, right?

And sometimes it seems comforting to run away and seek for shelter.

Like running into mummy's or daddy's arms when we were children.

Only that it simply doesn't work this way when we are adults.

So I guess lots of us, create our own comfort zones, to which we run instead, when we wish to feel safe, relaxed, loved, peaceful.

I was wondering, what do you do in similar life situations?

What brings you comfort?

How do you deal with the child inside you?

I believe that my primary adult sanctuary is...light, abstract as it may sound.

It's the reason why I adore the current place I' m living in.

The reason why I love Greece, the country of light, where I originate from.

The reason why I'm passionate about architecture and photography, 

as their good functioning depends so much on light.

The reason why I love white.

I'm sure that many of you must be wondering why have things become so hard for me recently and why has there been so much difficulty to return to things I loved.

I trust that when there is a good basis for communication established again, my thoughts will be shared.

But what is more important right now, is that no more time is consumed by staying away from posting, sharing and generally being openely involved with my passions, just because

I do not actually know where to start from.

And eventhough I'm fully aware that this could be "harming" my whichever public image had been formed and that I could have been planning my posts instead and appear stronger,

clearer and more determined than I actually am,

it would be wrong,

simply cause it would not be the truth.

So, uncertain as I might be feeling, probably a little lost, too,

wondering how years have passed

and how did I ever end up here,

here I am

and I hope that you' ll also be feeling honoured that you are respected enough for truth to be shared with you. Consider my absence not as lack of care for all of you who have been taking the time to read, comment and become readers, but as a sign, that I chose to say more by not speaking for some time.

A picture might equal a thousand words,

but also silence is golden

and there was no way that words could fit in this little online journal.

Furthermore, the only way to actually realise whether we like something or not, 

and how much, 

is perhaps by being deprived of it.

I know that, accidentally through blogging, I have discovered a part of myself I never even thought I had.

I discoverd that I love to write and share my feellings, point of views and thoughts,

as much as I love to create beautiful interiors, decoration and photography and talk about these subjects, too.

And I must say, that indeed through writing similar lines and sharing the world through my eyes,

I' ve met a lot of wonderful people I would have otherwise not.

So before closing this post, (knowing me I could be writing for ever!) I'd like so much to thank all those who have cared throughout my absence and have dropped a mail or two in my electronic and/or actual mailbox.

In time, I'll refer to you all and thank you properly.

In time, a desired and appropriate rythm will be developed and established in posting here.

Simply, organically but with effort and devotion, too.

And I'm happy to have freed myself from the need for perfection and have come to share here despite not being perfectly ready for it.

I've read a million times that doing is loving.

How incredibly right and true is that!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

P.S. the lovely "Keep calm & carry on" print that is pictured together with my favorite vintage wallpaper is bought a Anne's fabulous etsy shop magalerie

Untitled...or just talking to myself ;)

...I have to remind myself of that

Hey...it's been weeks I've been wanting to return to writing and posting,

yet, finding the right way to do so seems almost impossible.

I honestly don't know where to start from,

so in order to warm up the ground and stop being shy of appearing in my very own place,

I decided to function completely spontaneously...

 so here I am, browsing through Etsy since a while

 (after my morning German language courses are finished)

and came across this print, which I have for long loved

and thought it's a good idea to share it here.

I have the feeling that it will take a lot of time to recover my presence around the web,

but then again life surprises us often.

Btw, maybe it's a good opportunity to let you know the etsy shop is open again.

With easter approaching, I think that this would make a lovely choice for a kitchen, don't you?

Print by groundwork via etsy