A HUG

I find it easier to write things than to say them, or to translate them into action. I find it easier to send someone a card, or a message that expresses how I feel rather than giving them a hug or a kiss.
Especially with family & friends. I find it hard to tell them how important they are or how grateful I am for their support and love, however I can write pages of sincere emotional words and tender sentences.

Today I believe I made a big improvement and I feel so good about it. It took me a while to be able to give this tearful long hug, and surprisingly now I feel much better. It feels as though a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders.. As if with that hug I let go of a heavy burden.

Family are always there/ should be there, I know. But still, I believe we can't take them for granted. We can't keep the abusing and they can't keep the forgiving and understanding. We can't test their patience by increasing the meanness, unkindness and ungratefulness. And today I expressed how grateful I am and how sorry I am for all of that. I feel so great that I was able to do it.. I don't want to live for a day when I would regret not sharing my sincere appreciation and apology. It's hard to express those kind of emotions sometimes, but it's harder to regret not saying what you really feel and just take things for granted. Life might not give us a second chance.. so might as well, do it when it's possible.. when it's just not too late.

I am grateful & blessed for having the most wonderful parents on earth, and for having the greatest sisters ever. You can choose your friends, and you can choose who to keep in touch with, who to contact, who to just ignore and forget.. but you cannot choose your family. Everything can be changed and replaced, but not your family.
My family is the centre of my inner stability. I I look to them for strength, love & inspiration - I love you ♥

Landscape Photography & the electric world

source

Im so loving it! I 've always liked Lanscape Photography, but Barry Underwood's work in adding those shapes with light is just so creative. It gives the photo a different dimension and gives so much for the imagination and vision.

New vs Old when it comes to iPod shuffle

Is it only me who thinks the iPod shuffle - old design is nicer than the new one?

I think I prefer the old design with the circle in the middle and all the options +, - , <<, >>. I don't like the fact that with the new button-less generation the navigation controls are moved onto the headphones.
The absence of button is cool, I agree, but Im one of those people who find convenience and practicallity in the old iPod shuffle.

I am not a big fan of the one button, nine commands thing -
The new iPod Shuffle has a central button that accepts many user commands. In fact, this ‘one button’ handles 9 inputs:

• click
• click & hold
• double-click & hold (fast forward)
  
• triple-click & hold (rewind)
  
• triple-click and hold within 6 seconds
• triple-click and hold after 6 seconds
• click until a tone is played
• click until you hear a name
• click & hold until exit

I think I miss my old shuffle! But at least the one I have now is 4GB.. this should make me happy!!!

Pac-Man

I never liked this game, maybe because Im really bad at it! It's my sister's favorite game. I remember looking at her while she's playing and thinking what on earth does she find in Pac-Man.

Though I like this! Pretty cool - built from tin cans

source

pictures of 2009

Oriental Coziness & Elegance

WriteRoom

We Feel Fine

It all started a year ago, when I got an email from the http://wefeelfine.org/, asking for my permission to use an image on my blog that they found beautiful. It's the one on the top right side,- the same one I use as my profile photo. The book which is called 'We Feel Fine' is about feelings on the web.

Unfortunately and because of the limited space they were not able to include all the photos they received permission for. And it was not used. I think the quality of the photo is poor, considering that I took it long time ago with an old camera, and it's a bit blurry. But I love it.

I was just sent a link to the online version of the book. And it's just GREAT! Amazing! I like the idea behind it. Very original! And I love how they combine the theory with all those great images. It looks so alive! I feel disappointed for not being part of it, however, I am lucky to be receiving a copy of the book next month by mail.

Thanks in advance. And I really can't wait!!!

You can have a look by pressing on the We Feel Fine ---> to the right.

And enjoy.

blah blah blah

- it's funny how finding a job nowadays is as important and as difficult as getting accepted into University!!! Everyone keeps asking about the what's happening with you? any luck? and then after that you get to hear all the congratulations, which are just as warm and just as sincere as the ones said when doing the biggest achievements in life. And then you get to feel so proud .. like so so proud. As if you've just won a Noble prize!! Well, it makes sense of course, when finding the right job takes a year these days.

- I am an expert when it comes to job interviews. I know what will be asked, and what is the best answer. I know how to stay calm and to get myself out of anything awkward .. but still, I wanted to blog about one of the weirdest, freakiest, most difficult job interviews I've ever had,- where no previous preparation, no self confidence, no whatever would have helped, and where there was no one best answer. It seriously made me dizzy... the kind of dizziness you get from all the confusion.

Some stuff should never be blogged, it shouldn't even be mentioned. I thank God I was smart enough not to blog about it. And now I know for a fact that good things do happen, and that's when you least expect them.

- When one door closes, a thousand new doors open. I know It sounds cliched. I would've hit anyone who came to me with such a phrase a month or so ago. But it's true! We all have our black and white days, the great things about going through the black ones, is knowing that the white days are yet to come.

- There was a time in my life where I used to pray for a 'major change' every single night. But now i know that was a big mistake. I am praying for a change now, it doesn't have to be major to a crazy extreme though. Just a change.

- I thought that you need to be looking at amazing nature and landscape in order to get the right shot, but I just realized that you can get the best shot regardless of where you are. You can brighten your lens and make the best of any surrounding environment- you just need enough determination.

- My fingers keep typing F A C E B OO K unconsciously, every time I open my Firefox window. I was this addicted to FB with all its fake Kodak moments. Now I feel that me being that addicted, and me having this strong determination to deal with that addiction, gave me the realization that I am not as weak as I used to think. It made me appreciate this inner determination that goes missing sometimes, but comes back stronger than ever when it is needed the most.

the picture that makes me smile -

now, always and forever

WhY We LoVe SuMMer

Ask me to help a 4th grade cousin to do this for a presentation on his favorite season and you'd find me so happy and excited.. so patient and energized,


but don't tell me to teach him Maths or Science. That's a No No!

I still have it here...

One of the things that makes me feel sad in addition to having no security or stability since I've been moving a lot lately is that I can't keep the books I buy. I just have to let go. Because of the weight allowance and also the 'limited space', I just learned to deal with it and accept it.

I am feeling ok though, cause I started to write down my favorite parts from whatever I am reading, and it stays with me on my laptop and on my Simply Me. So it's here with me, wherever I am. Having them physically is no big deal, I still have them here, in the place I cherish the most.

I started this a couple of months ago, to check it out..

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Once in a Lifetime
Before the Storm 1, 2

Once in a Lifetime

Cathy Kelly

Once in a lifetime

'* Only one person can change your life and that's you. Don't wait for anyone else to do it, Prince Charming or otherwise. Be your own prince.

* When you're annoyed, don't speak from that place inside yourself that nurtures all past hurts. That will just make it all worse.

* Sometimes, you can't fix it. Other people, for example. You can't fix them. You just have to decide whether it's worth hanging around until they fix themselves- or, if it's worth hanging around even though they may never decide to fix themselves. Your choice over the hanging around, but when it comes to the fixing, you have no power. There's times when you just have to let go. Letting go works for a lot of time, actually.

* Like a fairy story in reverse. Like sleeping Beauty. Except, in this case, the prince hadn't woken her from a hundred- year- sleep he'd made her age one hundred years in a moment.
* Learn how to say no. Practice. Say it at least one every day and you know what? you'll get better at it.

* A gratitude journal, where you wrote down all the things you were grateful for. Eventually, some alchemy was supposed to take place and the act of writing about being grateful somehow made you actually grateful.

* Life is what happens when you're making other plans

* It's never too late to stop and change the way you're going. Never.

* What doesn't destroy you makes you stronger. I just hope you don't have to go through that process in the first place. But if you do, it's true. Trust me.

* Empathy is like coils of smoke reaching blue tendrils into the air. If they're let go, they can fly wherever they want, reach people, touch them and help. It's a type of global love: the great unconscious doing good.

* Live for now. Not for tomorrow or yesterday. Now. You don't know what will happen tomorrow, and yesterday is gone, so all you have is this moment. Enjoy it.

* There was so much negative energy about Mondays. She was willing to bet that none of the world's greatest minds had ever done anything brilliant on a Monday. Nobody ever mentioned when Einstein had put the finishing touches to his Theory of Relativity, or when Marie Curie discovered radium. But it definitely wasn't on the first day of the week.

* Fight for who you are. It takes a long time to find who you are, but when you do, take care of that person. She's one of the most precious friends you'll ever have.

* The wave of shame that rose up in her was physical. Shame could be physical. If flirtation made a person blush with a rosy hue, then shame was a fire of pain.

* Trust your instincts. I didn't trust any part of me, so I discounted my instincts too. But when I thought about it, nine times out of ten, my original instinct had been right. I just hadn't paid attention to it.

* Grief is a journey through a changing landscape and it takes everybody a different amount of time to travel.

* Life seems so long when you're in the middle of it, but when you know it's going to end soon, you realize how little time you have on earth. Don't waste it.

* Detach with love. You have to let go.

* Get down on your knees everyday and say thank you. Even if you don't feel grateful all the time, practice it, and one day you will appreciate all the good things. And that's one of the greatest gifts of all.

* Im not afraid of what they think. That's up to them and we're up to us. You can't live your life worrying about what other people think.

* Speak out of love and a desire to make things better.

* You're always said you hate all the crap about 'closure'. You used to call it mumbo jumbo and complain that the world's full of people seeking closure on everything from a bad day at school when they were four to a row with their kids.

* He was a man, you're a woman. We're different. For us, love it a huge part of our lives, for them, it's a segment. They have many segments.

* Love it about putting up with the package you've got.

* It was different for us men, most women were driven by straight forward rules of trying to keep their mate and protect their family. But men were driven by more complex evolutionary needs, and those didn't have to interfere with the family or the job of protecting the people they loved, did they?

* Do what makes you happy. Tell the people you love that you love them. Forget about waiting for a rainy day. Do it now.

* Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. Nobody else is going to be able to if you don't first. It's a hard lesson, that one, but important. If you love yourself, you don't let anyone hurt you. Sounds so obvious, but you're be amazed how long it took me to get that.

* Be kind to other women. It really works- most of the time. And even on those days when it doesn't, it'll make you feel better inside. And on the outside, actually! Because spite carves out things in your soul and it carves out things on your face too, the sort of lines that dermatologists say are from the sun or smoking, and are really from spite.'

the tendency to complicate things

when I think of all the people I know, the way they live and deal with things, the way they solve their problems, the 'problems' they have .. whether big or small, their future plans and how they protect their families and homes.. I see a big difference. A huge difference in people's perspectives..

But one thing we all have in common, is the fact that no matter how happy we are.. and no matter how peaceful our life is, we always tend to complicate things.. we tend to look for perfection..
there will always be something missing no matter how fulfilling our life is, and there will always be something that is not right no matter how good our life is.
There is something missing. Why can't we just count our blessings and be content! Why can't we ever know the meaning of satisfaction?

It is really hard to complain about simple or silly things for those with bigger problems and more serious issues.. they're not the right people to talk to, they don't and won't understand, and you will not be getting the sympathy you are looking for... so you'd better go look for it somewhere else.
It is funny though how we seem to look at those as the lucky ones, because for them everything is just simple.. any problem and every problem can be solved. But nothing comes easy.. they went through all the difficult stages to get to where they are and to have this attitude towards life.

And the fact that we weigh problems differently makes life easier to bear .. because it simply makes us more aware of our inner strength and more in control of our emotions and actions.

Half of My Heart

The Kautsch Collection

by Carolin Fieber
source: contemporist

I love it. The sofa and rug.

Kalamantina

I just love the smell of a Kalamantina in a winterish night.

a November moment, 1

do you believe in SiGNs?

Signs.. I believe that if we are lost, and we pray sincerely for guidance and direction we often get it.

Signs.. we ignore them 99.9% of the time, but we still end up with other valid ones that we can't neglect.

When I find it hard to sleep at night, and when my mind can't just rest, I end up having dreams which scare me because of their accurate reflection of my reality.

Last night I dreamt that as I walk I keep falling, but the last time I fell I was holding my younger sister's hand, and she managed to pull me and make me stand up again. As I stood up, I opened my eyes to realize that it was only a dream.

And then other nights when -in my head the 'maybe's' and the 'what if's' keep popping, I happen to get a sign that makes all my doubts vanish and I would wake up the next day feeling much better and more certain of my present.

As hard as some decisions seem to be, and as difficult it is to accept certain things that come our way.. there's always a sign that makes things easier, smoother, and more cheerful. All we need to do is to look closely, open our minds and eyes, and believe that a sign will eventually appear.

The warmest place ...

... in this whole wide world.