Apartment Therapy: a great blog & friend.

It has been a while since I posted here and I plan to do so again, soon. As I 'm in the procees of an exciting job hunt, I spent much more time writing applications and cover letters in German, which requires a lot of effort ( I do have precious help though for which I 'm very grateful ), that posting about decoration projects, isn't a priority at the momment. I took a few minutes though to prepare this thank you post for Apartment Therapy, as my work and pictures have been featured and / or participated in 7 posts alltogether, within 4 months. I consider therefore lots of the people who write for this, beloved to most of us, inspiring blog to be friends!

So,

Susie Nadler  from AT San Fransisco,

Abby Stone, Beth Zeigler, Laure Joliet  from AT Los Angeles,

Sarah Ray Trover  from AT Chicago,  

Gregory Han  from AT Unplggd,

Rachel Ray  from AT Re-nest 

thank you all for warmly embracing ivy sytle33 and her interior design projects!

It has been great to be hosted in your virtual pages!

Links:

www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/bedroom/powder-blue--100436

www.re-nest.com/re-nest/the-green-cure/the-green-cure-lig...

www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/fall-2009/the-fall-cure-retai...

www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/fall-2009/the-fall-cure-...

www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/house-call/house-call-ivystyl...

www.unplggd.com/unplggd/flickr-finds/ivys-little-home-office-corner-095761

www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/inspiration-decorating-with-neutrals-090564

 

A featuring of the Penthouse at Houzz.com.

  A presentation of the Penthouse and an interview with sweet Kit Pollard from Houzz.com . Such a warm hostess!It has been a big pleasure : ) Thank you Kit and " gerne wieder " as we'd say in Germany, meaning I 'd gladly do it again!


  Be sure to flip the pages of the blog, as there's so much inspiration for all possible styles and tastes. What is also very nice and practical is that, by logging in, you have the ability to create your own personal ideabook, consisting of the pictures that you come across on the blog and would like to keep.So not only you get inspired, but you can easily store, in  a way, your sources of inspiration, so that you can go back to them whenever you need.

Is there anything better than acceptance and recognition?

....except ,of course, from true unconditional love....But doesn't such love involve  a c c e p t i n g   and  r e c o g n i s i n g  the good qualities in the ones we love? This IS an imperfect world...and we are all more or less imperfect human beings, with advantages and dissadvantages, with talents and characteristics to be proud of, but also caring our negative aspects, ones that we have to fight for to overcome, to be better for ourselves and others... 

   I 've been often labeled a dreamer, a romantic...but I think that this is just part of the truth. Anybody involved  in a c t u a l l y doing things is not a mere dreamer. And there is nothing more fullfiling than doing things with love. Attention! I do not say doing things WE love...it is almost impossible throughout our lives to engage into doing ONLY things that we love...we should be very happy if we manage to reach such a level slowly...day by day.

  So , what I want to say and point out is: doing things WITH love is what matters. That, translated in to everyday, non - dreamer language, means doing things with awareness, with care, getting really personally involved wether this is having a conversation, reading a book, doing the laundry, exercising, taking a walk, interacting with children, cleaning, going to our jobs ( even the ones we don't really like at a given point in our lives!)....everything!

  I also believe that    c r e a t i v i t y , in every of its possible expressions, is also a form of love. And lately, I 've been meeting so many creative people, that love their lives and love to live! It is so wonderful! If all could DO just a little bit for their dreams to come true, for the world to become better, if we can find the strength to transform our   w o r d s   into  a c t i o n s ...how much could be achieved!

  To reach to a closure, let me share with you, that acceptance is a very basic notion in my life. For reasons unknown, I 've been deprived of it severely as I was growing up - eventhough my parents were the best that they could be. So, it means so much to me, to find out that what I do and who I am is accepted and very often lovely received and welcome....by all, wonderful YOU. Thank you from the deep bottom of my heart. And of course, thank you Eva for having the Penthouse and me in your blog  "Otis & Frank"   and for the lovely , sweetest comments. You are the inspiration for me writing these words here!

  And since this is going to be a very busy week, it's time that I go and wish you all:
H a p p y   M o n d a y  and the  H a p p i e s t   A u t u m n  of all...to all !

...a real presentation of the real me....

Last night I unexpectedly found our Penthouse hosted in decor8, that I so much like to read and look though the amazing pictures.I had a big smile from one ear to the other! Having our house blogged is something that happens often lately, which on the one hand makes me very happy, on the other hand I 'm not used to. So I had the need to actually present myself to you, contrary to the fact that I have not much time for blogging today , as it is the day that I hold my Art Classes in English group.A few words about that...

I spend time with little angels aged 5 -7 ( in this group so far, there are only girls ), mostly crafting simple projects, listening to a cd while looking at the pictures and reading from a lovely story book, acting things out, learning about colours and much more and of course all these in English. I know that most of you have met me as an interior design oriented person, but my primary studies are on Psychology - I graduated, acquiring a B.A in Psychology from Deree - the American college of Greece, in1999. I have also completed my studies in English ( Cambridge Proficiency of English language ) which enabled me to have a teaching licence. I have spent most of my adult life teaching English, both privately and in my parents institute in Glyfada, Athens.

But where does design and decoration come in to the picture? Well, I guess since I was a very little girl...I adored architecture and always wanted to become an architect and/or interior designer, but somewhere on the way...I got lost and engaged in to different things. Eventhough my studies in Psychology were mostly an attemp to find myself, I benefited a lot from them in my interaction especially with children, but with people in general, too. To return to the design thing, needless to say that I was always the one behind the renovations and decorations of the classes at my parents' language institute. The children loooved it! The mothers, too. And then came comments, such as: how come you are not in to design - decoration? I 'd like to renovate my daughter's/ son's room, who's growing up...any ideas?

Then came the Art Classes in English concept ( 2001) and some of my students that were interested in further and more spontaneous use of the English language, plus being crafty at the same time joined in. We met every second Saturday morning for two to three hours. It was so much fun!
To go on with the design - decoration story, in 2003, I rented my first apartment, completely on my own ( before I lived together with a boyfriend of mine during my studies). And then my second bigger one in 2004....and people would come, friends, neighbours...and they all commented so positevely about my spaces layout and decoration. Some started asking for advice and a few actually hired me as a consultant, in order to make some bigger or smaller changes in their houses or working spaces. By 2006, I couldn' t manage it all, so I stopped teaching weekly at our institute and kept only some private lessons and the Saturday Art Classes, in order to have time to work on the design - decoration projects.

In 2007, I enrolled to weekly afternoon classes on interion design, back again to Deree, my beloved college. And in September 2007, I met my current boyfriend, who is German and with whom I 've been living since January 2008. After him flying to me every other weekend for three months, somebody had to take the decision, if this relationship was to go on, to move. And it was me! I gladly accepted the challenge! I must say though, that the first one year and a half was one of the toughest periods in my life.

And this brings me back to now, that things are slowly but accurately falling into the right place. I graduated from the German Volkhochschule at the end of June and am proudly holding my excellent Deutch Zertificat B1, after intensive ( 4 hours ), daily classes for a year. I am continuing with the language learning, on my own at the moment, planning to take the B2 certificate by the end of this school year or maybe earlier. I have been hosting again Art Classes in English for little German angels in a lovely attic of a beautiful home in Wiesbaden since April. New classes, this time to be hosted in the Penthouse, are being organised. And not to forget, parralel to that, I am preparing my Etsy shop, where favourite vintage items and things handmade from me be will be sold. Last but not least, I have so many things to learn about graphic design, so that I 'm able to make this blog look the way I 'd really like it to.

Lost in to " talking " , in my attemp to fully present my self to you, I meant this post to be about a big THANK YOU to wonderful, talented blogger, writer and interior design consultant Holly from decor8 for having our Penthouse and me in her lovely blog pages.Now if you 'll excuse me, I have today's crafts and lesson to prepare and pack....Happy Tuesday to all...Aufwiedersehen und Aufwiederhoeren!