Gain happily..

I think, what I mostly do during holidays season, is try to gain 2-3 kilos instead of 4-5!
A real feat when you're surrounded by temptations!

I whistle as if I don't care while passing by the platter with the lovely Greek Christmas treats, melomakarona and kourambiedes... And on my way back, I grab anything I see first.
I make my abstinence vows before going to the Christmas lunch my retired-cook-daddy makes...And I never keep them.
I drink tons of water before visiting friends' homes, so I won't have too much appetite...And yeah, I don't have too much, but I certainly have some!
I make sweets which I don't even taste... Not the same day, I mean.
And I eat so few chestnuts, they could be counted on my one hands' fingers...Which, magically these days, has a two-digit number of fingers.

Yeah right! Whoever tries to stick to their diet during Christmas holidays, is living in a delusion.
Because it just can't be and mainly it shouldn't! What should be, is to meet beloved ones and enjoy their company and the divine pleasure of good food. "Only the food you eat with guilt fattens" is a quote I once heard from a happy juicy lady. And when the most famous Greek lady-star was asked, a while before leaving this world, what would she have done differently in her life, she replied "I'd eat more!" What a sad repression...
Not for us! For us warm homes, lights, candles, presents and delicious things! We'll have eleven months to get rid of what may be put on us..!

Shoes: CLARKS

Tights: YAMAMAY

Dress: Sewed by Mrs. Despina as usual! 

Fabric: "Let it snow" by Karen Cruden from Steel City Stitches Fabrics

Earrings: Made by me..
Ring: Very old, I don't even remember..

With all my heart,
Merry Christmas everyone!

Photos by PyThEuS

Just for today, three hearts on my Christmas tree!

Fabric-coated buttons everywhere!

In my life as a self-stylized woman, fabric-coated buttons alone, could be a whole chapter..
Many years ago, I had conducted a ruthless raid in the closets of all the women I knew and I was aware they've been young ladies in the '60s. And the booty was mostly overcoats, because I've always had a passion for them. Apart from other alterations, I also used to replace the buttons with fabric-coated ones. And I used to dream I owned a machine to use, so I could make them myself all day long...

Over the years, the stores where buttons are coated, have extincted. I know only two stores right now and they're kind of overpriced. A while ago, to my surprise, on the shelves of TIGER, I saw a nice kit to use, so you can do it easily and simply on your own. And of course, I took as many as I could!
But.. Another big chapter in my life, is the belief that there are two kinds of use for all things: what they were made for and what we invent for them. So with my buttons' sets, I've made many earrings and today's ring and collar clips.
In fact, I haven't coated any button yet!!

Shirt: "UNO"...

I bought it around 1994 and whenever I wear it ever since, everyone says to me "nice new shirt!"

Small, big, round, pointy, everything comes in and out of fashion. But when a collar is THAT big, it's never out of fashion. Because it never was fashion!

I remember back then, my mom waving her head, cause she had seen it on a news-caster on tv and assumed it was very pricey. As far as I can recall, it was not..

Skirt fabric: "Walnut Hill Farm" collection by Charlotte Lyons, bought from NauvooQuiltCo, ETSY
Ofcourse sewed by Mrs. Despina!
Bag: RoyStore
Sweater: H&M

Shoes: Fly London  from AMAZON

Tights: CALZEDONIA

Coat: Skertzo

Photos by PyThEuS

Mosaic ground, Thessaloniki, Greece

Coffee dipping!

The whole city is in the streets...Saturday and SUN after unstoppable rain for 5 days in a row. Smiles everywhere after 5 days of grumpiness. We are kind of spoilt in this country when it comes to sunny days.
There must be no free chair at all, at those cafes that have outside tables. And there are 2.500 coffee-bars in this city with only 1.5 million people. Greece's coffee-city!
But for me and Sotiris, when there is such weather, it's preferable to have a paper cup in hand and take walks until we find a nice spot to enjoy the sunshine and the coffee! And now that all the bakeries' and patisseries' windows are full of Christmas cookies, I can easily find a spot to feel comfortable and sit so I can start the wild ''dipping'' in the cup...

Dress: "Miss Patina" from ModCloth

Belt: so old...

Sunglasses: Michael Kors

Bag & shoes: I bought this bag with its matching sandals in Patmos, a Greek island!

That was the place that I was destined to meet the shoe brand that would become one of my favorites:  FLY London . If not THE favorite!

When I came back from vacation, I looked for it on the internet because I knew it was not in the Greek market. So, there was the winter version of the sandals in AMAZON. And that's where these shoes came from...I think they are the first thing I ever bought online...

Tights: CALZEDONIA

Coat: Benetton

Scarf & earrings: Knitted by my mom

Mmmmm....

Cookies: "Pinakoti" Al. Svolou 22, Thessaloniki

Photos by PyThEuS

In my neighborhood's park, Thessaloniki, Greece

Autumn Wonderland

My poor, unfortunate Autumn... Acknowledged as a synonym of gloom and melancholy...
This year it's too rainy. The sun remains persistently hidden, cloudy days, humitidy, thus everybody frowned and grumpy.
Why am I so crazy about it? Is it because I love open umbrellas? Or because I'm so fond of walking in the morning mist? And no matter what kind of shoes I may wear, I just can't help ducking my ankles under the yellow-red layers of leaves on the edges of the streets.

I concider myself lucky for living in a place with four definite seasons. This eternal circle is the best teacher of the most precious life lesson. To see with our own eyes the Old leaving with amenity and dignity. The New to be patiently gestated, regardless of the conditions and to be born with grace and majesty, to do the only think that has to be done: to live in beauty and beautify the rest of the living, in any possible way...

Dress fabrics: "Forest floor" ,Bark & Branch collection from HarvestFabrics, ETSY

"Autumn Wonderland", Bark & Branch collection from CocoWawaCraftShop, ETSY

The dress is designed by me and sewed by my beloved seamstress, Mrs. Despina.
Sweater: Zara Kids!

Ring: made by me

Scarf: knitted by my mom

Shoes: Fly London from AMAZON

Tights: CALZEDONIA

Earrings: made by me

Photos by PyThEuS

Two leaves in Vienna, Austria

Finally here!

I have this habit. Whenever something good happens, I do not consider it just a fact of the present. I believe that its root lies in the past. So I look back in time to find the moment it was actually born.
This blog was not born today. Neither in this past month I've been creating it. It began when I saw a dress that thrilled me in Polyvore. And that led me to Modcloth. And Susan of Modcloth mentioned Etsy. And Etsy gave me fabrics and ideas. And those ideas brought me to my seamstress. And the dresses I was designing and she was sewing, were asking for me to find or create accessories to match. And all these made my friends want to take a look at the rest I hide inside my closet. And their desire made me want to open it myself. So, with some help from my life partner, my brother, Sofia, and Angeliki, this fall I'm finally here!
And on second thought, if I go back further...maybe it all began when i was 9 years old and started keeping a diary. Something I have never really stopped ever since...
So, I get in this little wonderful adventure along with all of you, that I know, but also welcoming all of my new friends that will have the curiocity to take a peek at my closet's flying heart!

Dress & sweater:"King Kong" is a brand from Milan, Italy. My good friend Olga goes there very often and brings back so lovely pieces for her boutique, OSTIA

Boots: Fly London from AMAZON

Tights: CALZEDONIA

Ring: STONE & METAL, Thessaloniki

Earrings: made by me

Sunglasses: only 9 euros from Vienna!

Coat: Derhy

hangers: the big one, old shop window decoration from YAMAMAY!

the little one, TIGER

Photos by PyThEuS

Another ride back!
Last October I went to Vienna to visit my friend Agnes. She had already shot a few beautiful pictures of "hearts" that had caught her eye in the streets, with a view to make a little album for her mom's birthday. I got jealous! Besides, as everybody knows, "there is no parthenogenesis in art"!
So I started looking around for hearts too. But when we went together to Bratislava for a couple of days, oh that city had so many "hearts" in every step, that we became heart-maniacs!
Of course, apart from a bunch of photos, I also took this inspired habit back with me. And I'm still checking around every day..
I mean to gift you one (of those hearts) with every upload.
Some are made by nature, some by chance and some by human hands. But never mine. I don't ever interfere in any way when I discover them. All I do is the "click"...

P.S. Have you encountered one hiding in your daily life? (Please) send it! I'll be glad to make it heart of the day!
P.S.2 Thanks Agnes!

Wall in Bratislava, Slovakia