Lent blogging break

Hello, friends,
We have officially entered Lent. So, my Lent resolution in to go on a blogging break. I hope to read more, pray more, and work on the Spiritual level. See you later in the Spring,

Jennifer Louden: Can You Go Home Again?

Hello, dear friends,
I hope your Weekend was happy, weather sunny or fresh.
This morning I want to share with you a post by my favorite inspirational coach, author Jennifer Louden.
It spoke to me, as yesterday we went from a drive around my childhood hometown of Kifissia, a leafy suburb in the North of Athens.
Jen's discription fits with my feelings so well. Highlights are mine.
I'll post some  photos later.

Enjoy!

Greetings from Sunny Florida!

I'm back "home" visiting family. I grew up in Stuart, Florida and left for the West Coast at 19 and never came back. It wasn't that I didn't like my small town -- I love small town life! -- but I was looking for a different climate (literally) and also the wild expansiveness I found in the west.

But deep sweet ties remain here and I finally made it back for a long overdue visit. I'm smack in the middle of my time here and I wanted to share this thought from my experience:

You can't go home again because you are always home.

Let me explain.

I have found myself feeling so wistful, visiting the house I grew up in, wishing with all my heart I was 10 years old again, hearing my dad come home and running out to hug him. He would say, "Now wait, Jenny, I'm all sweaty, wait till I wash my hands." He would go to the utility room and wash his hands with Lava soap. And I would jump on one foot and then the other, telling him about the book I read all day, what Barb and I did, or how I rode my bike as fast I could.

This sadness -- not just for Dad being gone, but also for my younger self who could skateboard down that bridge or run madly down that golf course so fast and strong, for my friends who have passed on, and the clean innocence of youth -- started to make me twitchy. It all felt so hard. I wanted to get away from it. I wanted to eat sweets. I wanted to be someone who didn't have to always feel so much.

But then, meditating on these feelings each morning, I found underneath them this place where all the memories and all the people and all the Lava soap in the world is still alive, in me. A place where there is such vast tenderness. A home place that is always in me, always in you, always here for us to remember, and rest in.

It makes me cry just feeling it again. But good tears, grateful tears. That we can have such vast lives and love so much and it's all part of us forever.

I am always stunned: when I stop running and judging, and settle in to touch and be with what is here, I come home.

I hope this makes some sense and is of some use to you today.

With great love,

Jen

In the News today

Hello, friends,

How are you today?

It is almost Spring, here.

Today I am wearing a light top and cardigan, and my favorite perfume, Chloe.

Some fresh news to brighten up your day, if you are living in a country where March is snowy and cozy.

*A woman named as Head of Russia's Central Bank. She is Elvira Nabiullina, his chief economic adviser. How cool is that for a woman?

*Look at the colourfully dressed Catholic bishops. They look like pupils in class.

*A guide to Romantic Paris here. Is there a more romantic city in the world?
I bet your city has its romantic spots, too. Do tell us!

xoxo

Irene

Looks and Brain

Marilyn reading James Joyce.

Photographed by Eve Arnold .

Long Island, 1954

"We worked on a beach on Long Island…I asked her what she was reading when I went to pick her up (I was trying to get an idea of how she spent her time). She she kept Ulysses in her car and had been reading it for a long time. She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it–but she found it hard going. She couldn’t read it consecutively. When we stopped at a local playground to photograph she got out the book and started to read while I loaded the film. So, of course, I photographed her".

Happy Monday with Lonny magazine

Hello, dear friends,

Happy start to the week!

I am sharing with you the absolutely beautiful pictures of the latest issue of Lonny magazine that I picked this morning.

What an amazing work these people do! They do their job because they like and enjoy it, and it just shines through!. Thank you, Lonny people.

There is so much to read in the March 2013 issue, which is a "kids' issue".

Let me tell you what I liked most:

I adore Nicky Haslam's home , Lonny Editor in Chief Michelle Adams Manhattan home, Interior Designer's Lisa Sherry Connecticut home, and an absolutely lovely Swedish home.

I have mixed the photos from all four homes, here, because they all speak to me. I hope you will enjoy finding them as you go through Lonny's pages.

All images, Lonny magazine, March 2013.

*I want to thank Lonny for letting us copy their images. As always, I credit images as best as I can, and I find it very generous of them to let us bloggers share the beauty.*

Sunday Moments

Hello, friends,
I so hope you all had a beautiful weekend. Here is a glimpse of mine.

 

*Started the day with a lovely magazine, my favorite dessert and my favorite blogs. Bliss.

 

 

*Cat napped along with cat #2.

 

 

*As of tomorrow we stop eating meat in preparation for Easter. We appreciated a friend's gift, homemade saucages, flavored with orange grid. Yum!

 

*Witnessed a power game unfolding between my girls. Eldest is legally adult now. Youngest has the more powerful character of the two. Oh dear. I am not taking sides, but I do hope they will work it out eventually and find their respective role and balance.

 

 

 

*I caught sight of the early Spring sun through my window.  

I love those moments when beauty shows up.

 

Wishing you all a lovely new week!

*

Fashion Friday:Is it spring...or winter?

 Can you feel perky little Spring in the air?

Prada



Zara

Or are you still cudling in the arms of good old winter?




via






via

I love eccentric!

Bob Hope's space age Palm Springs home

It looks like a home from the future.

And now Bob Hope's legendary Palm Springs mansion has gone on the market for an eye-watering $50m.
It is the most famous property owned by the legendary comic, who was extremely passionate about architecture.

Boldly go where noone has gone before: Bob Hope's famed Palm Springs home is up for sale for $50m

The California home was designed by renowned Modern architect John Lautner especially for the funnyman and his beloved wife Dolores.
The concrete, steel and glass house was built in 1979 and has about 22,000 square feet of living space, and its unique design is somewhat reminiscent of the USS Enterprise.
Buyer's will get to boldly go where no-one except the Hope family has gone before, as this is the first time it has gone on the market.
It was sited on San Jacinto mountain to have a spectacular view overlooking the Coachella Valley, and its curving copper ' mushroom' roof plays off the shape of the nearby mountains.

 

Futuristic: The home owes is space age look to a design by famed modernist architect John Lautner

Stunning: The property was specially designed to take advantage of the glorious natural landscape

Not pooling your leg: The swimming facility was actually made in the shape of Bob¿s famous profile

According to public records the home has six bedrooms, and Bob apparently did not like being caught short as there are also 12 bathrooms.
It also has the unique distinction of having a massive boulder jutting out the living room floor.
The English-born entertainer obviously had expensive tastes, as the murals on the first floor and the pool area are by Garth Benton, whose work is also featured at the Malibu Getty.
As well as the Hollywood standard swimming pool, which is in the shape of Hope’s famous profile, other outdoor features include a pond, tennis court and an outdoor fireplace.
Bob died in 2003 at 100 and his long-running career saw him meet presidents, star in films and tour the world firing his famous one-liners.

No wonder he was so cheerful: Bob was often cited as the biggest private landowner in California

Stream of consciousness: The funnyman will have found this a relaxing place to think up new gags

Telescopic view: The comedian had the perfect place to indulge his love of stargazing here

His second wife Dolores, who he married back in 1934, died in 2011 at 102.
The entertainer was often cited as the biggest private landowner in California.
Last year his daughter Linda sold her late parents’ Toluca Lake estate, near Los Angeles, along with some of its contents, in a well-publicised garage sale.
Despite being designed by one of the world's most famous architects, Lautner was said to have been infuriated at what he deemed to much interference by the Hopes.
It is said he thought the house inappropriately furnished, and distanced himself from the property in later years.
To find out more about the fascinating property click here

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288168/Its-world-Bob-Hopes-space-age-Palm-Springs-home-goes-market-50m.html#ixzz2MgbXcoDR

inside Samantha Cameron's Downing Street kitchen

By Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent,The Telegraph

The cakes were due to be sold to staff at Downing Street at tea time, with the money raised going towards the work of the Comic Relief charity. In the photographs, released by Number 10, the Prime Minister's wife is showing off the moonrocks, flapjacks and tiffin cakes she baked today.



Her children Elwen (left) and Nancy (right) are behind her, helping with the cooking and trying some of the cakes. The Camerons live in a flat above 11 Downing Street because it is bigger than Number 10's apartment. The photographs also gave another chance for people to view the Cameron's £25,000 kitchen, with floating shelves from her mother Lady Astor's shop Oka, a Magimix worth up to £299, an £895 dishwasher and £130 toaster.

Mrs Cameron said: “Baking is such a brilliant and easy way to raise money for Red Nose Day. I know the children are really looking forward to selling our cakes around the offices in Downing Street.




“I hope lots of people all over the country are also baking, or finding other fun ways to support Comic Relief.” Comic Relief wants to inspire the nation to bake cakes and sell them for charity and raise money for Red Nose Day too.

A special baking fundraising kit, with recipe, and the bunting and price labels modelled by Mrs Cameron, is available from www.rednoseday.com/fundraise Comic Relief was set up in 1985 by comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. Since it was established, it has raised over £750million to help people living incredibly tough lives across Africa and here in the UK.

Source, Source

Inspiration

"...in the bleak, cold, muddy, messy days of late winter, looking at the open hopeful seasons ahead of us, there is all the reason to dream, plan and believe that all of those things will happen. That anything can happen.

It might not be immediately apparent when you're slogging through the mud and everything is caked in ice, but without a doubt there's beauty to be found here now too".

A warm hello to the week with a quote from Soulemama, one of my favorite blogs ever. 

It applies to any and all cases and situations.

Whatever your mud or mine, know that there is an open field ahead, there is space for dreaming, planning and believeing, and that there is beauty in the muddy now.

Moments in March

There must be something about March that makes us look around for inspiration and ideas for the coming season of lightness and warmth.

As I was going through my archives I discovered some lovely houses I've shown you over the years.

There is this All Natural House from March 2008

 

 

Then this Barbie-girl villa from March 2009

 

 

On March 2010 I wrote about how to arrange pictures in an attractive and professional way.

 

 

And in 2012 I have shown you Trina Turk's Californian home. Amazing.

 

 

 

But March isn't only about our homes.

It's also about our own fresh starts.

 

In March 2011 we travelled to Antwerpen and Paris. It was our last trip abroad so far, but there is hope, there is hope, dear ol' Mary Poppins.

 

(And if you are wandering, yes, those glasses from Urban Outfitters came home with me!)

 

Same year, 2011, I also wrote a post called

A Nos Amours.

 

I talk music and films, and love.

 

There.

 

A bientot, amies.

Have a lovely week ahead. 

 

March in my garden

 

I love seeing our garden in Athens grow.

My eddible garden took all winter to grow but now we seem to be getting results.

I discovered two paperwhites under the trees.

The lemon tree has new blooms.

And the most dull of evergreens gave me this exotic purple bloom.

 

I am thankful to God for out beautiful garden.