christmas

May you all have a blessed Christmas

and a wonderful holiday season!

xxx

December

is it really december today?

i guess it is.

i bought my son this advent calendar

and left  a little note in the number 1 box, with directions for him to find this gorgeous book! ( i've just got it from the post office and i'm already in love with it! i wish I had ordered one for me, too!)

my son and i are secretly planning to decorate daddy's office when he's not there

-the tree ornaments are patiently waiting in their hiding place and we'll buy a tree one of these days.

and i'm - not at all patiently - trying to get over a nasty cold which has left me 'voiceless' for a week now.

hope you all have a warm, blessed december!

{ for a good dosage of graditude, you can revisit last year's advent calendar;

if only i had time to do it again this year! }

take care!

xxx

saturday night

little man and i came back home from the shadow puppet theatre

to find our ~ very tired ~ daddy sleeping on the sofa.

now it's charlotte's web on tv and a new blanket on my hook.

little man and i are sharing the other sofa and our stripey blanket.

is it wise of me that i haven't watched the news today? i think it is!
(i'll watch it tomorrow morning anyway!)

take care everyone!

xxx

hi!

Hello world!

How are you lovely people?

I really hope you're enjoying the new season!

Autumn has been here for a while; it's the time for pomegranades,

pumpkins and chrysanthemums around here.

I'm trying very hard to squeeze some moments of seasonal appreciation in

my otherwise crazy life.

I haven't just been busy lately; I've been crazy busy!

I haven't finished reading a single book since schools started;

I haven't done much progress with my crochet project;

I haven't even cleaned and organised the place properly since summer

and my wardrobe is a chaotic mixture of summer and winter clothes!

(I'm actually working on this today)

The reason I've found some time to be here today is the long weekend ahead,

which means there are no schools tomorrow. Yay!!!

So, do tell! What have you been up to lately?

Though, I have to admit, I do stop by your places on my ... free time(?) - more like free minutes! Somewhere between studying with my first-grader,  preparing my work for the next day and keeping up with the most basic housework requirements, I check on my favourite bloggers whenever I'm online.

Well, this is it for now.

I don't know when I'll be back with a new post but I do come here every day so I'll definetely know if you waved 'hello'.

Take Care!

xxx

a break

"The child must know that he is a miracle,

that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been,

and until the end of the world there will not be,

another child like him."

Pablo Casals

In times of tension, I need to remember this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm taking a break from blogging for a while.

Life's been calling my name much too often lately

and there are so many new things I need to tackle.

I may drop by your places every now and then when time allows.

Take Care!

xxx

flowers for your friday

{via}

Schools start on Monday.

My little man will embark on a new journey.

Hope he has lots of fun along the way.

Happy Weekend!

xxx

so far today

Can you see how fresh the plants at the entrance to our block of flats look?

Can you see how grey and dark the morning is?

Yeap! We got rain! Lots of it. It started last night and kept raining until about midday today.

So refreshing!

What can a woman do when it's all fresh and cool outside?

Well, have coffee at the balcony, of course, enjoying some 'hooky' time.

Bliss!



And what can a mommy feed her little man, other than  warm, thick bean soup, loaded with

chopped veggies?

(have you spotted the sun-dried tomatoes my dad's made and the yellow carrot?) 

Yesterday turned out to be a good day, after all. I suddenly felt on top of things after having shared my miseries here and managed to do quite a lot of housework.

And now, my son's waiting for me in his room to de-clutter his book cupboards.

We need to make space for his school books.

Have a good day!

xxx

september

I love this month's picture from my calendar!

It's not very autumnal, but neither is the atmosphere here.

It's hotter and more humid than August!

There is some promise of a change in seasons in the evening breeze

but other than that, summer is still here.

 Of course, we (I)'ve eating a lot of grapes,

but I long for a change in the air as well.

I long for cooler afternoons, I long for cardigans and I almost can't wait to snuggle under my crochet blanket.

And I long for rain!!! Where are the August showers I love so much? I would even be happy with a whole-day beautiful September drizzle. As long as there's water falling from the sky.

I find myself completely disorganised these days. My mind is scattered here and there (I still don't know which school I'll be working at - at least I know where I'll be living!)

I've got hundreds of items in my (mental) to-do list and don't know where to start. Well, I do know where to start: my son's room. I need to de-clutter it and get rid of toys and baby clothes and baby books, have it painted and then do the fun part : decorate it!



I somehow feel that all the stress I had in the previous weeks, waiting for my job placement,

hasn't lifted yet. All I want to do is read and crochet and lay back.

Well, this is not the right time to lay back!

I need to pull my act together!

Classes start on Monday.

And I want my son to have a warm, welcoming room to get back to after school.

news

I've got great news to share!

The job placements were announced late last night and I got what I wanted;

I'll be here, staying at home and working in my area!

I don't know which school yet, but that's fine. As long as I don't have to leave.

Thank you all for your supportive comments and keeping me in your thoughts.

It means a lot to me!

More soon.

Take Care!

xxx

an award

A couple of weeks ago, Fiona, who shares her life in Ireland over at Raindrops and Daisies,

honoured me with this award:



If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I have mixed feelings about awards:

though I love the fun of it all and I'm genuinely excited when another blogger chooses to pass it on me, I can't bring myself to choosing other people to pass it on, no matter what the criteria are.

So what I usually do is thank the fellow blogger for the honour and leave it there.

Today, though, I feel like adding a little something.

Something that made me really happy! 

You see, Fiona is a really sweet woman; she always has something nice to say and here's what she wrote about my blog:

 

Yiota has such a beautiful blog and her photographs are wonderful, I honestly think they are some of the most lovely pictures that I have seen on blogland. She lives in Greece and her blog is fab!

Thank you, Fiona!

I'm going through a lot of stress these days, and gestures like this are much appreciated!

xxx

saturday evening at the orchard

"Under the apple tree?"

I nodded and he got out the picnic blanket from the trunk of the car. We lay back, gazing at the feathered clouds sailing slowly above our heads. Bees were buzzing over the clover, crickets were chirping, and we could hear the children playing...

Karen Andreola

Lessons at Blackberry Inn

in awe

Hope you're all safe out there!

happy sunny weekend!

{ via }

See you next week!

xo

... and repeat...

xo

a boy's room

~ still waiting for news  (will have no news before monday and i need to be at work on the 1st of september!)

~ still seeking distraction

~ still haven't decorated my son's room

 i spent some time looking for ideas on etsy

(in case we do get to stay home)

I think you can gather the theme from my mosaic!

I've already bought the fabrics for a bedspread, and a trip to the city centre for some yarn  for a blanket is planned for tomorrow.

Now, if only we could stay here!!!

(click on the numbers for links to the shops)

1.  2.  3.  4.  5 and 6.  7.  8 and 9.

a small life

After watching the film 'You've Got Mail' yesterday, these words stayed with me:

sometimes i wonder about my life.

i lead a small life;

well, vabuable, but small.

and sometimes i wonder:

'do i do it because i like it,

or because i haven't been brave?'

Sometimes I wonder.

my {home-alone} sunday

some reading and crocheting

washing curtains, washing windows (the whole thing)  and putting curtains back up

 a simple meal for one :omelette with  pasta (angel's hair), spring onions and green peppers

a favourite film (you've got mail), coffee and a little treat

~ Can you tell by the way I write that I'm not really into words? ~

Have a lovely week!

xxx

a weight on my chest

no pretty pictures tonight;

just a weight on my chest;

i've just finished reading this;

i really needed this;

i only wish i were there to hold her hand, too.

just because...

...I needed the distraction...

I brought  this tiny posy in, took pictures of it...

and made mosaics with some other pictures I took last week.

(I made the placemat for the winner of my recent giveaway, and it has arrived safely at its recepient)

Job-related news should be announced towards the end of next week.

Yes, I definitely need to be distracted!

xxx

the sea, the sky, and the moon

~ snapshots from our holiday in Thassos ~

There was a lot of swimming, laughing and staring at the moon.

xxx

blue...

...was definitely the colour of our holidays!

More soon!

Take Care!

xxx

on holiday

   here 

See you next week, around Wednesday!

Have a great time, wherever you are, whatever you do!

Take Care!

xxx

a bit of decorating

I've added a couple of summer touches to the little corner we spend most of our summer evenings: our balcony.

Hmmmm! Blue, green and white: I think this will become another favourite combination of mine!

Take Care!

xxx

lately in my kitchen...

~I've discovered the amazing aroma of fennel seeds and never looked back.

~ I've been using the two different kinds of basil I have in a pot.

 

~ I've been cooking lots of vegetable stews (veggies courtesy of my dad's produce).

~ I've been adding cherry tomatoes to almost every dish I've made. 

~ I've been chopping/  boiling /canning / freezing almost every day.

 

~ I've been baking and freezing muffins (in an attempt not to eat a whole batch in two days!)

 

~ And... I have no idea how many tomatoes I've washed, chopped, boiled, canned/ put in the freezer... All I know is that there are now 90 jars (big ones) at my dad's, twelve freezer bags ( quantity for one stew each) in my freezer and fifteen bags in my friend's freezer! And there's more to come!