Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts

31.10.13

waking up in the middle of nowhere...


waking up in the middle of Mallorca...

on a foggy morning...

olive tree fields covered in a light, airy sheet

soon to dissolve, revealing magnificent views

absolute silence

just some waking birds tweeting 

the clouds moving peacefully into one of a kind formations,

instant pieces of art that the wind will 

take with "him"

minds free of constraints

interpreting

the wonders of existence 

_________________________________


beautiful days, seemingly endless, as if  e t e r n i t y was written

with every breath being taken,

beautiful days marking 

a fall to cherish for sure

____________________________


one can hear so much when in  s i l e n c e 

yet the trip to bearing  it at the beginning is challenging

_____________________


can you bear the silence?

do you enjoy it ? 

and do you also perhaps see a heart shaped in the sky?


H a p p y  T h u r s d a y !


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Photography / accompanied words by Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for J&I Travelling Stories 2013
{all rights reserved }

28.10.13

waving h e l l o s & g o o d b y e s


some how like that I planned to welcome you to the middle of this fall,

only the end of October is just around the corner already,

so it seems more appropriate to 

say perhaps something like that: 


more than two months after the latest post here,
when the Jug was offering to pour some Happiness
into the Jar,
with the Jar gladly accepting, while offering some Hope herself,
{fairy tales for adults, copyright Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos, 2013}
the fairy tale is no longer only a fairy tale, but a true story.

The story of my life. 

The sweetest, most adorable story,
with all her bittersweet moments & dramatized parts,
a story that for every single minute of the sometime soon to be 6 six years,
I wouldn't change it for the whole world.

Naturally I wish I'd have been wiser, stronger or any other adjective that implies something better compared to what I have already done.

H e l l o. This is  R e a l i t y.  L I F E  is for learning.

And there is probably no feeling sweeter & more complete,
no contentment deeper, than realizing
that one has learned, one has moved on, 
one has broken  f r e e , one has made what seemed impossible,  p o s s i b l e

and while doing all that, he / she chose all over from the very beginning again,
the one person and kind of life that more than any words can say
is  w o r t h  of living..

Saying all that, it's important to me to communicate a fact that has been
concerning me for quite a while.

I'm a rather quiet, reserved & very private person.
I celebrate in a rather unusual way.
One who has found herself in the middle of this thing called "blogging",
{ with all its gorgeousness & complications }
and social media.

One who enjoys sharing bits of her life but also loves sharing precious moments
with herself and the people she loves,
without mentioning anything about it on any online medium.
At least from time to time.

The circle of my good friends is small & curated.
I'm happy for that.
The situations the past months have been acting as a magnificent compass,
assisting in establishing relation ships & letting go of ones that do not serve both parties happily, or at least have a common denominator of learning & growing.

We people tend to be lost in words sometimes. I hope to be able to use the medium of  language effectively.
As much as the preciousness of  s i l e n c e.
When relations ships are lost in words, when  h o n e s t  feelings fade away, or never find their way into manifesting in the first place, it's perhaps time to pass. 

When we can't see others for who they are or who they have become,
taking part in their story as much as we wish them to take part in ours,
a loosening in ties is inevitable.
When we can't see ourselves, we can see no one else.
When we cannot admit our own truths, there is no place to share the truths of others.

oh anyways...

Someone, whose attitude in life and accomplishments I admire, 
said the following:
lets  K. I. S. standing for:

 l e t s   k e e p   i t   s i m p l e.

When people tend to complicate, I try to simplify.
I've read that in one of  Lakshmi's amazing posts.
Now I feel it myself.

This way, real changes can take place.
Experiences have meaning.
Life itself is rich.



And balance isn't just an unknown word, something we "fight" or strive for.
Achieving balance in our every day lives becomes in itself a way of life.
Some times it works better, other less.
Nevertheless, we are able to  b r e a t h e  in the middle of everything...




P r a c t i c a l l y  speaking:

-> I've been at my home in Germany, yes that one, the little maisonette by the woods, 
since about the first days of September, after having spent almost a month in Greece,
{ which seemed like a century }
and that after having spent three weeks in Amsterdam, till the middle of August.

-> I have been re-setting up home with my life partner { for reasons of easiness, I'm considering to be referring to him as my husband here, after all it feels this way }

{ oh just ignore the undone bookcase in the background. I'll share updates soon.
That is if you would like to see ; ) }

but hey:

h e l l o !



-> I've been working on establishing myself as an interior consultant and life coach,
assisting people into living the lives they truly wish to live. { More on that in a different post }
To tease you a bit, I do say that I worked unexpectedly with the most amazing client ever this summer 
{ June - middle July } 
and beginning from just a little styling advice, we ended up remaking a whole kitchen,
while we have already set our hands in the living room. The best of all, a new friendship begun.
{ And yes, we would love to share the process & outcomes here!}

-> I've boarded a plane a few times, as shortly after I returned home in Germany in September,
Santa Claus came early. No, no he doesn't fly planes. 
But, he abducted me and brought me in a lovely, little, charming, stone house in the middle of nowhere. 
Or perhaps it was not the middle of nowhere.
But just a - truly beautiful  - property almost in the middle of Mallorca, located close to one of its authentic villages I so much adore.
Forth time on this island since 2009, { here some pics from a winter visit in 2010 }
every time I love it just as much - if not more,
always wondering about the peculiar connection I have with this place. 
Who knows? Are there past lives? Have I ever lived there before?

One thing is sure:

M a l l o r c a  mi  A m o r 

it was so great to be stepping on your grounds again!



And just like that, the first days of October past and I was back in Germany,
suiting in to my everyday routine just like gloves fit a hand,
just like milk & honey.

Sometime soon there'll be a post on relocating and the process of making
a new country your home.
A true home, with capital H.

Currently on another short trip in the country of my origin,
taking care of some practical issues and in a few days back Home in Germany,
where winter will be impatiently awaiting to show up.

The easiness with which I lately board planes, pack suitcases and adjust in differentiated 
temperatures is remarkable for my once rather over anxious self.

I'm glad. 

O.k, I'll put a full stop to this post. But I'll see you tomorrow,
sharing pictures of one of the photo shoots I did for the kindest contributors  
of my new Journals for this year,
which are no other than the stylish, grey felt ones, with the most fabulous details,
like you see at the top of the post,
but also below, 
as this picture was also used to thank the people who support this blog's respective Facebook page

Are you one of them? Then, thank you so very  much!
We reached 2500 sometime in the middle of the month.
Taking into consideration the totally sporadic posting and activity,
I consider it a great success!

T H A N K  YOU. 

I couldn't have done it without you!



Hope you are having a great start in this new week.
Meet you here tomorrow, xo

_______________________________________

Styling & photography: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy 2013 { all rights reserved }

1.8.13

In August... in Love...



Saying h e l l o from sunny Amsterdam my dear readers & friends,

wishing everyone a 

h a p p y   n e w   m o n t h   ahead,

packed with loads of  

L O V E !

I'm using as my current, temporary residence the charming home of

amazing photo stylist Paulina Arcklin,

while she's busy preparing more and more spectacular work for her clients

and organizing photo workshops.

In case you are anywhere near Helsinki on the 9th & 10th

of August, participating would be great!

Perhaps there is still a spot or two left open.

Find out more h e r e


Being literally in a styling props p a r a d i s e

and having the ok to go ahead and play around,

I put together vignettes to make me feel  a t   h o m e .

Everything has been found here, except the  b u t t e r f l y  brooch,

 a Christmas present to me from a dear friend living in Canada

and my beloved white i-phone,

a present given to me from the person I love, to celebrate 

a good four digit contract I had signed.

{ now five, six & seven digit contracts you are welcome my ways  :) }

The "h o m e " sign is made by me,

reminding that one's home lives in one's heart.

I carry my beloved  G e r m a n   h o m e  wherever I am,

till we meet again.

Know that everything in my life has been evolving in the

most proper, smoothest & wonderful of ways.

I'm loved back as much as I love,

feeling thankful & grateful for all blessings in my life.

And wish you all the very same!

.... more posts soon to come,

till then, have the loveliest of days!





16.4.12

birth, renewal, hope and... life's simple manners ~



 Currently being on a recreational & business trip,
  this post will (attempt to ahem ahem) be relatively minimal in words than usual...

Believing that you are truly wonderful readers in so many ways, 
I wish to share here only but a few pictures, which have been coloring my mood these days.

Enjoying posting and sharing here on this on line journal
is one part of my reality.
The other part is enjoying such (rather rarely recently found in our modern societies)
 moments of total privacy & peacefulness,
 where life is experienced in a simple manner,
away from social media or simply selectively participating in them.

It's a combined way of living which seems appropriate and is personally being appreciated more & more.




Taking these somehow contradictory factors into consideration,
 I still believe that posting in a simple manner can take place,
discretely leaving some traces of the messages wished to be communicated,
or simply images to share.

I like to file these posts as inspirational and spontaneous,
often giving them the label "life of awareness"...

It's the one face, side of this blog,
while the other, practical one is connected to
my professional side.

A next post on this spectrum will soon take place, too.
Till then,  I hope the pictures shared here today to be capable of evoking
other than visual stimulation,
feelings, thoughts, emotions, visions...




... and somewhere here among tiny pink blossoms blooming on trees by the sea
and recent adored moments in my creative studio
I'll be leaving you until a next post....

Once more, so many warmhearted thanks for your constant, precious contribution
in this blog, by reading & taking some time to comment.

It brings these on line pages to life like nothing else...

Thank you dear all!
take care 
&
 see you soon ~





Image credit: Iro Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic stories with Ivy Photography 2012.
( All rights reserved ) 

16.1.12

~ some days in Malta...






 it is in difficult times that one understands what matters, right?
  this is a tiny post to welcome you all in the new week, despite having caught a cold so nasty as it hasn't been  in a very long, long time & reveal the reason there were no posts or news updates during the past few days.

him & I spent a few days on the island of Malta, a destination we have grown to very much like since our first visit there last winter.

you can imagine that spending time working on our pictures & talking for hours here about our trip
is something I so wish I could do at the moment,
but anything than a short period in front of the screen tires me
 due to fever.

I still wanted to pass by here and say hello,
while sharing a few SOOC (straight out of the camera) pictures - except from slight cropping & a little processing in the last two,
 my partner made of me,
as we both enjoy our roles behind & in front of the cameras... 

 our days were spent strolling in the charming streets of Valletta, the capital of the country,
driving - on the left side! - along the coast line,
promenading along the sea in Sliema, where we were accommodated,
photographing doors, details, me posing in front of doors...
eating delicious food,
such as mouthwatering pastizzis,
which cost between 30 & 50 cents per piece, no matter where you are



... visiting the beautiful cities of Mdina & Rabat,
taking a ferry to the amazing tiny island of Gozo
and not to forget, among others, me catching a cold,
(thank God only on Saturday, just a day before our return)
to bring as a souvenir,
together with memories of good times
&
pictures of undeniably charming places.
oh well my dears...

I hope to be well soon, being able to enjoy my work & posting here
from me, best of wishes for one more wonderful, creative week,
bringing you just a little bit closer to all you love!

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

P.S: here are some captions to illustrate the pictures, from top to bottom:

1. yesterday, in low fever (if only I knew what is to come!)
2. walking up to Valletta, this building always captures my attention
3. Thusrday morning, after our first evening on the island, the capital is our favorite place to visit
4. Friday, probably our best day of all the trip, at Mdina & Rabat
5. pastizzis!


14.9.11

friends ~ changes ~ magical places ~


hello everyone!

  back in Frankfurt since yesterday, after a long weekend in Mallorca,
  which begun with a delicious dinner at Sa Farinera* on Friday evening, 
 marking the beginning of our effort to...
   catch up with ourselves
  amongst many changes in our lives.

{* a place we are willing to fly to, just for a dinner!}

secretly wishing for more days,
arriving back in autumn, grayish skies,
has not been exactly ideal after 3 full days & nights
in a summer climate 

still totally grateful for this short escape in paradise...
 not to mention that today, in contrast to yesterday,
 the skies are heavenly blue here
&
the sun is shining in full strength!

and then, little things, like the huge straw summer bag seen above,
made in Menorca & purchased 
for a rather very fair price
at Porto Colom
&
your more than wonderful response to the {previous post}
about the story behind our home's
current feature in Ikea Family Live magazine
have been bringing so much happiness around here!

Thank you kindly with all my heart.

 a small but important parenthesis here:

I'm a very strong believer
that it is through life's happy occasions that real friendship evolves
and know through personal experience
that real friends, good friends, potential friends
are there to say a positive word & to tap gently on our shoulder
when good things happen.

not that good friends do not stand by our difficult times,
but that strength of both a person & a relationship is determined
by the ability of one
to congratulate someone in his/her smaller or bigger happy moments
and share them disregarding their current state

can you think of anything more magnificent
that somebody's smile to be able to bring a smile on your face, too?

I see you smiling with me and this makes our relationship
through these lines strong

we are consciously part of the same circle,
bringing together our similarities & differences

I thank you so much for that 
& deeply appreciate your support and friendship 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

now, back to the weekend...
would you perhaps like to see which our favorite place to swim was?
if you are expecting sandy beaches, then you guessed wrong {!}


not that we have anything against beautiful white or golden sand,
{ we actually visited various such places, too}
but just that the clarity of the water is our number one criteria
for deciding where to swim
&
during a high season, being among hundreds of other people
is not our idea of relaxation



so, we chose alternatively
rocky places,
with crystal clear waters...



few people,
concentrating on swimming,
rather than lying on the beach...

pure magic




swimming is for me as natural as walking,
with my mother having "thrown" me in the sea water
while I was still 3 months old...
how thankful I am for that!

cannot imagine of any other exercise
benefiting all parts of the body
while
enhancing our psychological & mental state

perhaps yoga... 
anyways... 

Mallorca offers numerous places for swimming

and its nature is almost identical to the one of Greece.

and I'm not only talking about the Greek islands,
but also dreamy places and beaches in a range of maximun 100 km
around Athens...
still, one as a tourist needs "insider tips" to know where to go
to discover paradise just next to a city like Athens.
{I'll have to see what I can do in the future about that!}

In the meantime,

here is a list of the places we visited on the East side of the Mallorcian coast,
while driving the brand new, Citroen C3 we had rented...

{a smiley detail: we were upgraded to such a car, despite having chosen
a lower class so as to save money, due to my partner's birthday being the same date
with the girl who was arranging our papers. Just love when people think and act outside the box!}

so, with our base being in Calles de Mallorca,
these are the places visited:

 ~ Porto Christo
 ~ S'Illot {where the pictures are taken}
~ Costa de Pins
~ Capdepera
~ Portocolom
~ Cala Figuera
~ Montrago
~ Colonia de Sant Jordi
 ~ Llucmallor
~ Palma de Mallorca


you can imagine that I'd love to spend hours and hours going through our pictures,
choosing favorites and working on them,
sharing them with you...
I'm actually looking forward to choosing a few more favorites!

still, with:

1. the procedures of having our current home rented,
which you can check {here}
 and the demand being already quite big,
not to mention the interest expressed in
purchasing the whole interior {!}, 
which is perhaps not exactly possible,
 but then so very extremely flattering for me & my work!
I'll gladly offer my services as an interiors consultant : )

2. organizing a movement 

3.  deciding on technicians
who are going to help us make the new place a home,

you can also imagine that all these, together with 

4. working for {our shop},

5. moving on with {this} styling & photography project,
as {yes!} I have been chosen to proceed with the work,

6. and a few other side projects 

are keeping me busy as a bee in Spring!

~ ~ ~

So, my dears, there is already a next post prepared,
dedicated to something I 'm so content to 
be finally sharing with and presenting to you

and below is a clue...



see you later tonight ~ enjoy your days!

much


12.8.11

captured moments + smily rain





hello again : )
am coming here with a big smile cause I read the comments on the {previous} post
just a little while ago... thank you so much.

it's everything but a typical thank you...
I feel that you connected with me
&
to say the truth, I have momentarily not a very reasonable explanation
for the happiness that it brings me...
 still since it does so,
I only wish you to know that it does : )

so this post was originally prepared in order to share with you
{the collage} put together by me yesterday,
combining some of {my favorites pictures} from friends & contacts on flickr.

there seem to be some people to whose work I'm constantly drown,
not only for the visually delightful images,
 but also & mostly
cause of the moments that are captured
&
 the personalities of the people themselves
as they are expressed through their on line presence...

 there is nothing that attracts me more
than  looking at an image I can loose myself into...

 such images, I tend to believe, are always images
which capture reality as it is,
feelings, moments, passions,
and are not made per se,
or else in purpose,
rather
they are the outcome
of being tuned to our inner selves
and our realities around us.

 from top to bottom & left to right,
enjoy the fabulous work of:

~ Theresa and

when you have some time to spare or maybe nicely invest,
you can take a virtual visit in their photography streams,
portofolios, websites and/or even some of their shops.

All you need to do to access the links is to visit
the {profile} information of each respective person
much like to my own linked here as an exaple

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

on another notice,
as I took a refreshing evening walk in {Verna Park} a while ago
and just before we had dinner,
 all that came to mind is that
 this rainy season to be approaching
 is going to give me the chance
 to wear my favorite
pair of grey rubber boots, with silver details 
{promise to make a close up picture, they are really brilliant!}
bought during our Christmas trip / vacation in Rome
this past Christmas,
for the only reason that it was raining so heavily
and I had only brought leather boots!

was happy to find them reduced to half the price, too...

so here is me during one of our walks in magical Rome,
posing in front of my favorite object to photograph:
doors!



please do not take me wrong
when reading the label of the pictures
"Travelling & fashion stories with Ivy"

I do not consider myself any fashion icon,
it's just that I take a lot of pleasure in dressing myself
and combining my wardrobe's clothes

and usually like to be photographed when in outfits
which were put together easily
& made me feel very comfortable 
in them


am temporarily leaving you with this 
picture which is named:
"Smily rain"
and am actually 
promising & planning to post pictures from {this trip}
as there are tones of beautiful ones,
which were never shared!


hope your Fridays have been really lovely!
will come in a short while, 
posting about a part of our day yesterday
worth of mentioning ~

xx