Destination ---> Vacation!

Destination ---> Vacation!, originally uploaded by ivy style33.


Hello :)....days have been rather busy lately, therefore the infrequent posts here - there have been some posting over at my flickr account  though - in case you follow me there!...I hope you are all very well!

So, what do we have in the picture above?

Vacation mode! We shall be flying to Greece tonight for about two weeks. Other than that, we had some first prints made totally unofficially, just to see how my photographs appear when printed.

There is work I need to do with the watermark and some details. Then choose the sizes to be available, as much as decide on the paper.
Apart from that, we are both quite happy with my work, so it will be launched soon in my Etsy shop.

But first of all, as already said, vacations! Will you be spending some holidays already somewhere?....or maybe relaxing at home?
We are heading to Apartment 44, from where I might post a picture or two here and over at flickr, if the time allows for it.
At the begining on next week we shall be touring around, possibly our destination including one of the many, many, beautiful Greek islands!
My batteries need to be charged and my mind to empty, as upon my return continuous work awaits for me, something I'm very pleased with.

So, happy - belated - beginning of June to all!...and if you live in a place of this world where summer is on its way...Happy summer and happy vacation to all of you!

Love, health, creativity & happiness :)!

Goodmorning love...

Goodmorning love..., originally uploaded by ivy style33.

....coz you can judge a good morning from its early beginning...the Greeks used to say - these days when they were less busy with protesting and complaining instead of concentrating on work - that: "I kali mera ap' to prwi fenetai"...or "A good day can be seen from its morning", the word morning standing here for an early beginning....there's not much philosophy in it...but a lot of practical truth...

...provide your organism with good nutrition to handle with the day ahead and do it in the best possible manner....referring both to the environment & table setting, but also to the people we are sharing our mornings with.

I think a lot of relationships are judged in the morning....and it is so rewarding to realise that you are begining your day with a person you mostly want to be with...and in case the realisation goes the other direction, then change would most probably be a solution....leading us to a more fullfilled way of living.

Look around you....

Look around you - love can be everywhere, originally uploaded by ivy style33.

Look around you - love can be everywhere, but of course also
Look inside you - love is hiding there!

...some years ago I realised that living with love is a priority in my life. This doesn't necessarily involve only a romantic approach in to seeing things and it definetely doesn't always mean, that life is seen through pink glasses all the time!

But what does it involve?

It involves living with the truth, living healthy and with sanity.

It invloves living with an understanding both for the self and others.

It involves being fair...oh! so hard in this competitive world!

It involves having the best of intentions, but also being able to move away

from situations, when they prove to be a simple repetance of things wrong.

It involves encouraging others to be the best they can, but also letting it go, when there is a feeling of extreme resistance from the opposite side.

It involves looking inside ourselves for answers, before we point our fingers to others for our misfortunes.

It involves being grateful for the gift of life.

It involves appreciating whatever we might have.

It involves bringing our existences to their highest possible point by

doing the best we can for ourselves and others.

I guess it also involves being authentic, by taking the time to discover ourselves and allow inspiration to come from within....

...again rather hard when inspiration lies everywhere around us, to keep the balance...to look inside in order to offer a  true part of ourselves....

Welcome  to my Diary of Love....where pictures and words will melt in each other, for the only purpose of reminding us the priceless value of love.

It might sound simple, but sometimes real love is a tough path to follow.

Coz loving life means to embrace both the good & the bad, both the bright & the dark...accepting their dual existance and simply making clear choices.

cake love & a happy new week!

cake love & a happy new week!, originally uploaded by ivy style33.

Hello there :)

I hope you all had a delightful weekend and were able to find happiness in the small, simple & important things, among others of course!
Thanks to the recipe & precise instructions of a lovely online friend, enjoying a delicious carrot cake was one of the highlights of this weekend.
 Oh!...the pleasure of accomplishment....can sometimes be found is such simple things as trying to bake a new cake recipe, succeeding, enjoying it or in exploring our artistic natures, such as when crafting and/or photographing for example...

....there are certainly talents & passions in every individual and investing time into exploring them is a valuable way of finding pleasure, a sense of achievement & happiness, that doesn't depend on others, our relationships or our formal jobs, but it is simple and deeply connected to ourselves.

There is always time, if we think about it, sometimes more and sometimes less, depending on our current life conditions. But there is no such thing as being passionate about something and not ever finding the way and the time to be engaged in it!

...and sometimes all we people need is a gentle push and a reassuring tap on our shoulders!

What about you?....what are you passionate about and try to make up time in order to be involved with it?

Or if there is practically no time in your daily lives now, what is it that you wish to and plan for doing, as soon as this is possible?

What is it that you love to do during which you forget yourself and at the same time you find yourself?

Are you maybe lucky enough and have already worked hard to have made your passion be your daily reality, way of living and possibly your formal job?

What a way to start a week....by posing questions! But my intentions are to wish you all a lovely week and do think, that by encouraging us to do the things we really love, is a possible way of managing to experience meaningful moments of happiness throughout our days.

As far as my weekend is concerned, I did take the advice of many of you here, who commented on this recent post - expressing much tireness and temporary inability to move forward - and all I did was relax and free my mind from thoughts!

On line engagement was also limited, despite the fact that the whole Saturday was spent at home, engaging in to such activities, as magazine reading, crafting, cooking & spending nice time with loved ones.

Sunday was a fine day out, with the weather finally showing a more Springy face! Visting family for lunch and early afternoon coffee & cake and  then long walks in the woods, while being on a Photo Safari (of which pictures will be soon shared on flickr) were excellent for bringing peace in a lately overworried mind, settling emotions and charging the self's batteries. Isn't nature one of the most wonderful presents?...and companionship just another one?

Thank you all for taking the time to share and comment here lately! Have the loveliest of weeks!

...and a very Happy Weekend!

Dots & strawberries :), originally uploaded by ivy style33.

...it's May...
...it's actually the middle of May...
...it has been rainy, grey & cold since almost the past two weeks...
...long walks and bicycling aren't exactly favorited...
...but life is good when we make it good...
...and that's why I' m wishing you to spend a weekend as lovely as you can...
...despite the weather or other possible unpleasant conditions - in case there are some...
...and have gathered here in this small mosaic...
... moments of this week, which were happy and sweet and carefree...
...eventhough there were also moments of sadness and darker thoughts as mentioned here.

Breakfast time, shared with my partner is something I cherish like a treasure and so are - not so often - meetings with friends, like the one I had yesterday with a very dear one of mine.

Enjoyed Thai soup in a nice, newly opened and minimally decorated place and then hot chocolate and homemade cake at a favorite cafe in Mainz and strolled around the small art & handmade fair, where these super cute & happy dotted cups and mugs were found!

May this weekend result for all of us in a happy combination, much as strawberries and dots  make!

A sense of accomplishment ( A weeee weekend - part II: Sunday)

A sense of accomplishment...
...comes when we engage into the things we do with all our hearts, connected to our existences to the fullest, still the mind being at ease....


Sunday turned out to be a "home day", as when the sun is shining and the temperatures are warm, one of our favorite places to be is....home!


No, there isn't a lovely garden, like the really big one (1200sm) I grew up in Greece...oh my!...those were The days...!
No, there isn't a huge veranda or many verandas, like most apartments situated by the sea in the Athenian southern suburbs have....


Just for the record, allow me a little parenthesis, so that the amount of change that I had to adjust to is somehow better understood:
-> the home I grew up into had 60sm of verandas and an overall size of 140sm.
-> the last apartment, I rented and lived alone in with one of my dogs - Grace, had 30sm of verandas and an overall size of 73sm.
-> and finally the current home my parents bought and helped them with the complete renovation, measures 33sm of verandas and an interior floor plan of 80sm.


Outdoor life has been part of my daily life since the day I was born!....so, one of the main reasons this small 65sm Penthouse was chosen as our first common residence, since I relocated here in Germany in order to live together with my German partner, is the fact that it does have a veranda, with a most privileged orientation to the sun!


Just having an outdoor space doesn't do much, unless it is exposed to the sun for as long as possible, at least in my case. Well, the sun rising on the left of the apartment, it bathes the whole place with light and occasional sun and warmth ( this is Germany!) until almost late evening.
So, eventhough it measures around 5(!)sm and despite its obvious mini size, it makes all the difference! I couldn't have imagined what happiness can be found in such a small place!


Yet, life never seizes to surprise us!
It's a wonderful aspect to come to the point of enjoying life for whatever it offers us, being able to live well with more, being able to live well with less...


I read these following words this morning, visiting shortly my flickr account and taking a look at some of the profiles of people who add me as their contact ( thank you to all 788 of them!) There couldn't have been a better way to put this into words:


" I think one of the best ways of measuring a person's success is by measuring their accumulations of happiness within their heart ", writes Mr Tom Miller 
Thank you Tom for adding me as your contact and therefore giving me the chance to read this wonderfull wise words!


Now, it's about time I returned to this sense of accomplishment mentioned in this post's title....
Well, it has to do with gardening!....no need to laugh at me when talking about gardening in a tiny veranda with only two (!) plants at the moment....sometimes really less is more!


But, if you want to enjoy a really beautiful garden, part of a lovely home in Austria and real gardening adventures, then please do visit Kathrin from flickr's Lillian day.


So, this is what got planted by my bare hands this Sunday:

Yes, bare hands....as much as I find gardening gloves to be the cutest very often ( flowered or dotted for example) and do sometimes use them, this time I wanted to feel the earth with my hands, let them get dirty and dig in to the whole experience with the pure enthusiasm of a child who plays with earth!


Wearing loose tracksuit bottoms and the top of one my bikinis, I was getting sunkissed while replacing the sadly dried out olive trees, with new plants that have come to live with us.


There were found at Ikea and each one of us chose his/her plant....one for you...and one for me....I think, hope and wish that they will do well, as they are more suitable for German weather.


The symbolism also fits better to a home inhabitted by two people. The olive trees were lovely, but they were both my companions since my first own apartment back in 2003 and were both chosen only by me.


It feels much better that the new plants are commonly chosen. As much as women tend more often to deal with interiors and home decoration, I find it to be important that all the members who inhabit a living space, contribute actively to its decoration, it being a means of expressing equally its inhabitants.


So, happy as we both were, for our new veranda companions, we enjoyed a freshly baked chocolate cake and tea...seated on the floor, which gets as warm as it should be thanx to its new floor tiles (built with the technique of the "swimming floor" )....and which was freshly double broomed and moped after the planting processes ( what a mess despite the newspapers placed underneath!) were completed! 

As you can see, some were reading the Time magazine, seated on the Alseda stool...and others were making pictures...teheeee....darling...could you please take your...."tiny" foot out of the picture?....merci : )


In the upcoming days, the veranda will be completed step by step... 


-> the authentic, Greek "Kafeneio" table and two folding chairs will be brought from the cellar
-> A new umbrella will replace the current one, only that it cannot be such a  lovely one 
   again, like the white one with thick bamboo stick from Habitat that we had
-> and the bench will eventually get repaired and freshly oiled as it is naturally, unpainted wooden.


The gardening process mentioned before included also taking care of the indoor plants, which were not only watered, but also took a nice shower in the bathtab, after their dried leaves were cleaned out and enjoyed some fresh air and late afternoon sun before coming again inside in their...pot residences!

Sunday's home procedures finally included starting to take care of the aparments four main woolen rugs*, which are to be removed for the Spring and Summer months. This time they will be sent to be professionally cleaned, so as to have them back fresh as new in Autumn!


* 1.  woolen flokati from Habitat, currently in the sofa area
   2. off white pure wool rugs from Ikea, in the reading corner and dining area 
   3. striped woolen/ cotton rug in the kitchen,from Habitat


I guess a good week starts from having spent a nice weekend and wish that all of you did so, each one in your own special and personal ways....but let me repeat the ending of the previous post, should it not have been one that brought you happiness, it's ok...there's always time and chances to feel better.....and now is where you/we can start....Happy Monday to all!...next one will find us already in May!

Weee moments in a weekend!

Part I : Saturday

This weekend I took it easy...very easy!

On Saturday afternoon, I rode my bicycle for the first time after autumn, which was both lovely and...painful....as I was really unfit, especially the first minutes!

We went to the same place we took our unplanned walk on Friday early evening.

We needed to cross the bridge to the opposite side and reach a small hill, not more than 5 km away from our home....perfect for a first cycling ride after a few months.

We mostly relaxed on the grass and each of us did things that pleased him or her...we both took pictures....I read the newly picked up Ikea Family issue - on a quick and late visit on Friday night, to purchase some tea candlelights, paper napkins, and two, new plants for our veranda, to replace the  (very sadly) dead olive trees ( after 7 years of them having lived with me in various places) - and we ate...peanuts and....almonds with raisins and walnuts....next time though we'll organise a pick - nic!

Knowing that I've fallen behind on a few things on my to do list - as sometimes new things pop up during days that need to be taken care of - and realising that this means long hours of work to come, both in and out of the house, I took some time to be...silly...making some space inside and charging the self's batteries....

I took the time to be childish and uncomplicated...not caring...so I flipped my jeans up and enjoyed the warm sun on my legs....played by lifting them on the air while looking up, lying down, under a tree....oh!...what a free feeling!

Only "weeeeee!".....is the best way to describe it...expression which I borrow from darling Emma. As lifting my feet up in the air was not enough, I engaged quickly in to one of my favorite childhood activities....

So, there I was, definetely not so flexible and fit as when I was a little girl, but still fit enough for being 35 and lately, relatively untrained...climbing the tree and ending up sitted on one of its branches...nooo, I had no help whatsoever by the certain Mister who was with me....I did it all alone and surprisligly, an innocent feeling of accomplishment filled my heart...!


The sun was still strong enough around 19:30 but we slowly started returning, making also a few stops for photographs on our way...

On the way back, we passed from our super market to pick up some groceries and decided that eventhough the fridge was totally prepared to offer nice meals,
we'd just enjoy our lazyness and order some of our favorite Chinese plates.


Mmmmmm, how rewarding a meal seems ( and is!) after having moved and spent time in nature and in the fresh air!

Oh well, one more time I have to repeat that, to remind mostly myself and to further realise and digest it.....happiness lies very often in the small things...and it is found and experienced when we don't madly chase it...

I hope you all enjoyed moments to cherish this weekend, but again, if for any reasons it was rather difficult or unpleasant, please do remember, that better times will come your /our ways and that everything is part of these precious lives we live!

Sending all a big hug and a smile!

A Saturday afternoon walk...

...in the neighboring city of Wiesbaden, ended up being again a practise in photography.


Lovely buildings and a very dramatic sky, combined with the afternoon light of Spring, work very positively for pictures with an impact, without needing any processing at all.


Some of the pictures made can be seen here, in the specific set in my flickr stream, named  "Wiesbaden"


In the picture above, the low building on the left, with the blue, wooden shades reminded me of Greece...I'm getting a little homesick these days, as it's the first time since I relocated in Germany, that almost half a year has passed and I haven't visited. A long weekend or at least a week were usually planned every 3 months.

But it was clearly my choice, as I had spent far too much time last summer and autumn ( all together 8 weeks), renovating Apartment 44, the new smaller place my parents bought to live in.
And it was tiring, very tiring, except from rewarding, as it was the first time I got not only to decorate a living space, but to literally tear it down and start all over again, having chosen and designed everything from scratch.

This period also caused lots of instability in my personal relationship and since then I learned to prioritise and to support my feelings with actions. Making clear statements with my choices.
I grew a lot since that period and I 'm very, very thankful for that.

I feel that my parents are now settled in a new way of life, less luxurious but more meaningful. They have also accepted my choice to live in a different country and they are very happy I must say, for how things have turned out.

Now, I feel that I have two homes, one here in Germany and one in Greece and this is a feeling I had never imagined before...

I decided to spend a long weekend in Munich this year, which was my parents generous present for my birthday and Christmas together, instead of flying to Greece.

I'm very happy though that a first summer visit in Greece is planned for June....not too crouded and not too hot for my German partner .... :)

Some luxury feeling, a little bit of romance and some sweetness...

All necessary ingredients for a most delightful tea time!

I wish this porcelain cup was of good Bavarian quality,like these ones, 
that live in my parents' Apartment 44  in Greece, since 41 years.

It's not though.Siiiiiigh!

Having missed the feeling of sipping a cup of tea from fine white porcelain with true golden details, accompanied with mother's excellent homemade cakes, cookies and chocolates, on a Sunday afternoon, I indulged myself to this very cheap copy, in exchange of €1 both for the cup and the saucer.

Two sets were bought and the amazing expense of €1.60 was made to purchase also two separate small plates.

Well, I must admit, that my eye was equally pleased, with the only difference being actually holding the cup, as fine porcelain is extremely light, which neddless to say, isn't the case here!

Still, the whole feeling that I wished for was created and the only fake thing in the setting was the non Bavarian porcelain. A sense of luxury was created and added a little bit of this magic we are all looking for in our daily lives.

I'm not in favor of copies, also having been brought up with a selective taste. But, I strongly believe that a nice sense of living should be enjoyed by many and not only by those who can afford it.

That brings us back again to style and styling, which could be the key to beautiful living.

The importance is on how we do what we do, on how we wear what we wear, on how we express our views, our thoughts, our emotions.

The more I grow up, the more I understand that style means a cultivated mind and soul...

And last but not least, what more could be style than doing what we do, being who we are, through the quaility of love?


And a note here:
The wonderful tea I drunk and very much enjoyed  is called "Frülingstau", or Spring Baptism, a present from my Chinese friend Ann Jing, who has a lovely Tea shop in Mainz and writes a delightful blog about cooking and of course teatime! 
Despite the fact that it is in Chinese, a visit is sure to reward you, as there is a collection of lovely pictures she herself composed and made.

Happy wishes : )

Especially devoted to these friends of mine who are feeling kind of troubled these days....it will be just fine my dear friends.

But also to the ones who are already happy, the ones I love, the ones who love me and those who have been there and still are when I 'm walking through my " Bridge over troubled waters".

My real life supporters, they know who they are, thank you for making it possible for me to be where I am today and heading there where I want to be. Am thankful for having you in my life and understanding that love can hardly be found in words, rather in doing and being. Thank you, so much.