The adventures of a powder pink blouse

...or the small adventure that we women sometimes go through, in order to choose an outfit. 

Now, on a small parenthesis here, I know that I do not usually post about fashion here, but since I'm so interested in the overall concept of styling in all its possible domains, I thought I give it a shot also here, other than my flickr account where there's a set of pictures devoted to styling and fashion....through my eyes always...the focus being mostly inside, even when we talk about or are involved in more - seemingly - superficial actions & things...

So, to go back where we started from...the adventure of choosing an outfit...I'm sure it has happened to many of us, in different ways. Sometimes it happens in a second, others there's a little bit more time needed or simply...a little time to go shopping in our own wardrobe, giving a fresh new look to clothes living in our closets for years, by making new combinations, adjusted  to our current moods and influenced a tiny bit by current trends.

....not too much...not too little...as balance in general is the key to successful styling....in colours, in texture, in shapes...and of course in the way we feel!

This is the outfit I chose to wear yesterday, which was actually the second idea in the raw, among the one with  the jean skirt and the one with the colourful floral bag. It is Springy but in a rather quiet way, as I believe it fits better to April, while the latter one fits better in May...

I like to take my outfits gradually from one season to another, as much as I also like a sense of continuity to exist from one day to the other, from one outfit to the other...

Everything in nature happens gradually and there are natural circles for everything...

In autumn for example, the colour of the leaves changes gradually until they fall and flowers bloom and aquire their full colour day by day in Spring.

Part of the essence of styling is that one is in accordance with nature's cycles by adjusting the outfits chosen and by going through stages, like participating in a charming dance!

Styling of course, should most of all reflect the personality of a person and focus on the positive physical characteristics, whichever they may be. Others are more gifted and others are less. The key is to accept ourselves for who we are, including our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our thoughts, our immediate environments and even the countries we live in.

Dressed up like being on vacation on an exotic,a Greek, or any other island, while actually being in the middle of a city, doesn't exactly promise successful outfits!...this is my humble view on the matter of course...

There's the right time and place for everything and success lies in being in accordance with them.

But the most important element is to be in accordance with our true selves. Then we wear our clothes, rather than them wearing us and elegance doesn't depend on spending huge ammounts!

Smart shopping, ability to recognise quality over label ( not that they do not coexist of course!) and a consistent style which adjusts to seasonal trends with small additions, all contribute to building a wardrobe to keep over years and making us proud, looking back, for our choices.

For me, it started 10 years ago, in my mid  20s, after I had experimented and enjoyed various styles, youthness being my aliby.

Hippy chic and bohemian chic were my most beloved styles, but over the years I reached to the point of being able to elicit through styles, the predominant one, being my personal one: this which expresses my whole existence.

As much as there are various styles that can be named both in decoration and fashion, I strongly believe that there should be exactly as many styles, as there are people and as there are homes!

I'm fanscinated by decoration, fashion and styling as seen in magazines & books but am mostly fanscinated when I meet extremely stylish people on the street, who know how to dress themselves and seem to be in contact and in peace with who they are. And the same goes for their homes.

Interior design can also stand for designing our inner selves, the key to true, long lasting happiness, which doesn't depend only on our temporary successes.

So here we reached again, down to the depth of it all, even having started talking about styling and fashion, that everything in life depends on our relationship with ourselves and the point to which we are aware of what is going on inside. 

To me, most liberation and evolution takes place not when we recognise our good sides, but when we are also wise enough, sincere enough and brave enough to face these parts of us that are less shiny and happy, when we take the time to face our "deamons".

Funny enough it is then that they become smaller and smaller until they disappear....keeping them in the dark, out of fear or pride or whatever other reason, will only feed them to grow bigger...which in the end will return to one and only place: ourselves and our lives. We have the power in our hands and we should use it wisely!

Free Mothers Day Wallpapers, Mothers Day Photos, Mothers Day Pictures

Mother’s Day is a day honoring mothers, celebrated on various days in many places around the world. Its celebrated on different dates in different countries. Every mother gives a lot of love to their children without any expectaion of getting any thing back. She cares you to such a extent that it may possible that you own may not care about yourself. As all of you know, Mother’s day is fastly approaching, so I just wanted to wish everyone Happy mother’s day, for those of you dont’ know what mother’s day is, here is some information. Select "Set as Background," and it will be instantly set as your new desktop. Check out this collection of Free Mothers Day Pictures, Beautiful Mothers Day Wallpapers, Amazing Mothers Day Photos.

When Abhishek Bachchan felt he was going to die

Jumping off a 90-ft cliff into water is no kid’s job. You need professional stuntman to take the plunge. Abhishek Bachchan himself might have given the stunt for Raavan a miss until he saw local kids in Hogenakkal do it for money. That’s when Abhishek decided to shoot the stunt himself, despite opposition from the film’s director Mani Ratnam.

“I did the dive myself. When we went to the location in Tamil Nadu, insurance officials told Mani that the life of the lead actor cannot be risked...Then he opposed it and said no. Mani advised me that the current of the river was intense and there is a rock in the bottom, which could hurt me,” Abhishek told a news agency.

However, Abhishek made up his mind when he saw kids doing it.

“We shot in Hogenakkal in Tamil Nadu where small local kids jump for money. When a five-year-old kid jumped, I asked, ‘if a child can, why can't I’. But while completing the jump, I actually had the time to think, ‘Oh my God, I am going to die!’” Abhishek said while recalling the stunt which can be seen in the film’s first teaser.

The actor describes his role in ‘Raavan’ as the most “physically and emotionally” draining.

Salman had confidence in me: Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif’s rise from anonymity to fame is often dubbed as a fairytale come true. For a girl who couldn’t even speak proper Hindi when she stepped into Bollywood, reaching the top league has been a journey marked with lots of hard work, luck, and support from colleagues, particularly her boyfriend Salman Khan who never lost confidence in her.

“Apart from guiding me, Salman had confidence in me. He is not the person to say that because he is friendly with you. He will say it genuinely,” Katrina is quoted as saying by a news agency.

Not just Salman, Katrina said she’s indebted to Akshay Kumar as well.

“There are too many people whom I can call my godfather. I am grateful and indebted to them. Even Akshay Kumar took a risk in working with me initially,” she said.

Katrina’s career took a turnaround for good when her films with Akshay went on to become back-to-back hits. However, when she had signed Namastey London (the duo’s first hit together) with him he was on the verge of becoming s superstar but she was still struggling.

“He did not know me at all. He was at crossroads of his career. When he did Namastey London, people thought he had gone insane. Nobody is going to damage or destroy himself to help somebody else. Salman and Akshay believed in me and that is my good fortune and destiny,” she said.

Katrina is now looking forward to the release of director Prakash Jha’s film Raajneeti in which she plays a woman who enters politics after the death of her husband.

High Quality Wallpapers, 1920 x 1200

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!

IPL 2010 Closing Ceremony Wallpapers: Bipasha, Shahid, AR Rahman IPL 3 Photos

The third edition of the Indian Premier League Closing Ceremony had a special ending performance with a Oscar Winner A R Rahman with is Music Night in the Ipl Season 3. And Bollywood diva Bipasha Basu has been roped in to give a scintillating performance in the grand final in IPL this season. And Bollywood’ Action Hero Shahid Kapoor also showed her performance in IPL 3. Watch Bipasha Basu at the IPL 2010 Closing Ceremony, A Rahman Stage Show At IPL 2010 Closing Ceremony and Shahid Kapoor Dance At IPL 3 Closing Ceremony.

Download Kaspersky Anti-virus 2011 Beta

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These beta versions of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011 are available with 30 days free trial, and this is just recommended for developers or testers to try these latest Kaspersky security suite beta applications as these are buggy right now and could not work properly for general users.

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Windows Phone 7 Integration with MS Office

To compete and differentiate from other mobile OSes in sophisticated manner Microsoft is putting its efforts to make Windows Mobile 7 more complimentary device and the most amazing features of coming Microsoft Phone are Office hub and the Office integrating with mobile OS applications as Email, Calendar, Schedule etc.

Windows Phone 7 release is expected by the end of this year, whereas Microsoft launched Windows Phone t at MWC 2010 in February 2010.

Watch out these two videos to know more about Windows Phone 7 integration with MS Office.

Windows Phone 7 Office Hub Video

Windows Phone 7 Office Features Video

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!