Open House Athens 2016 (Part I)

Ah! Springtime! 

Any excuse to get out of the house and spend some time wandering around, seeing, watching, smelling the freshly planted yards and idly sinking in the air. 

I had a very good excuse to go aout and about this weekend.

OHA

Otherwise known as 

Open house Athens

is a non-profit worth knowing about, especially if you are in the housing/real estate/interiors/architecture domain.

Open House is one of the most important global institutions for the promotion of architecture. The idea began at London in 1992 and until today it has spread to many cities around the globe. The Open House project invites the public to explore and understand the value of architecture.

Every year for one weekend, private and public buildings open their gates to everyone for free and the city is transformed to a big museum, with its buildings and architecture being the exhibits.

Open House has already taken place for two years in Athens (4-6th April 2014, 15-17th May 2015) with an enthusiastic response from the public. In 2015, 370 volunteers took part in the project, who attended the tours in 68 spaces, while about 20.000 visitors were noted.

The third Open House Athens is scheduled for the 15th, 16th & 17th of April 2016

I visited first the Angeliki Hatzimichali (1895-1965) residence, a dear place from my years at The Lyceum Club of Greek Women (Lykeion ton Hellenidon) and all my interest and work for Folk Tradition, the Dora Stratou foundation and UNESCO. Here is the description:

A three-storey residential building built in 1924 to plans by A. . Zachos . Today it houses the Centre of Folk Art and Tradition

(You may have a look at the other locations here.)

Here are some of the pictures I took for you.

Outside and internal garden

The living room

The kitchen

Her office

Read more about this exceptional woman here.

Do visit, when you come to Athens, for a taste of a mix between Folk and Bourgeois. 

xoxo

When a star of your youth goes away...

Christmas around the web

soulemama

yvestown

posie

TravelingMama

Around the blogs of some of my favorite bloggers

::Merry Xmas::

Merry Christmas in Athens

From our house to yours

a very Merry Christmas

to you and yours

xoxo

Meet my boyfriend!

Ok, so I am in love.
In love with a watch like I have never been before.
Does it make sense?
Of course, of course-not!
When did anyone fell in love with sense?

It is a fine specimen of elegance.

Starting at 11.400 euros, it costs as much as a good rolling car. 

Maybe I shall not mind waiting, 

and maybe I shall have a boyfriend second or even third hand,

and love every tick-tock of it!

xoxo

A beautiful truth

via

On red lipstick

Has it really been that long since I last posted?

Yes it has!

And yet, here I am with a post about lipstick.

This is the second time in my life that I am wearing red lipstick. As in bright-red-lipstick.

I remember Paloma Picasso marketing her signature red lipstick saying that there is a red for every woman. And now, as I am moving up on the 40something scale, I begin to grasp what she says. Red means feminine, means assertive, means strong, means: "I know what I'm talking about".

I am currently wearing Estee Lauder's #120 irrepressible.
It is a racecourse red when applied, rather that the burgundy it looks like on the tube. And it is rather very matte. I keep the all red for after work. For worktime I top it with Clinique's chubby stick intense in 06 roomiest rose which gives a sweeter result on the strong basis. Please note when using red, pencil is a must! I am using Estee Lauder's nr. 7 red.

And here is a very useful video on how to aplly red lipstick!

See you later!

All Things Turtle: Kentucky Turtle Trail

Trail marker for the Sheltowee Trace trail in Kentucky. Sheltowee was the name given to Daniel Boone by the Shawnee Indians and means “Big Turtle”. This is my most favorite trail marker and makes me smile whenever I pass it. No other animal best describes my hiking style than a turtle, walking slow and low with a bulging pack on my back through the forest.

via 

Autumn Days Welcome

And so, we stepped into Autumn

...

First fallen leaves

starting already in August

(these from my vacation in Crete, this past summer)

Time 

to 

Warm Up

{ Posie Gets Cozy }

{ Habitually Chic }

Lovely soups and stews

(that no-one eats in my household)

“Those fine September nights, when the dew dropped on my face and I licked it to get drunk.”

— A.Rimbaud

A sense of wild 

Adventure

That calls for a life RUSTIC and PRIMITIVE

Time to set up home, cuddle and domesticate

Time to reap

and

to harvest 

Life's  Joys

Take the scenic route 

and live...

Autumn Leaves

Crete

August 

2015

Morning Prayer

{Photo found on TUmblr, some time ago}

The land does not cease to give.
But the people do grow full
and forget to give thanks.

We fill up our hollow bones and trade heritage for a set of keys,
a power line,
a sadness not filled up by all the gold from these Mountain springs.
We do our best to bring the forests and mountains down to find our gold.
Still,
it cannot fill the sadness,
save to build our homes and fill them with lights,
to fuel our cars and grind down the keys that will drive us to cemetaries
on days when we are told to remember the leftOnes,
our mothers and fathers.
But we do not go and ask for wisdom anymore.
We cannot bring ourselves to look down at the graves
and ask the soil to give us answers.

And so, the land continues to give,
while we forget to give thanks for the fullness of these hollow bones.

{source}