Show and Tell Friday-On my desk

Hello dear friends,
For today's Show and Tell , here is a look at my desk.

The caption reads wishing upon a...star

My Mary Engelbreit calendar on top, and the newly customised PC worktop. Those kids that Mary painted look very much like my own children!

Comfort and cheer to you all.
With special Thanks to Cindy of My Romantic Home for hosting.

Thank you for stopping by! See you next week!

Skywatch Friday-Blue Skies

(click to view larger)

Hello, friends and passers by. Today I decided to give you some blue skies to enjoy. I hope your weekend is bright and fun. Thank you for stopping by. Expect me to stop by any moment this weekend to say "hi" and see your view of the skies above.

Thanks to the Skywatch team.

See you next week.

Thankful Thursday-Life

Had you asked me at the beginning of the week, I would have written a completely different post. But since Thankful Thursday falls on a Thursday, I am going to tell you an altogether different story.

Old people here in Greece often say stoically that "we all carry our own cross". You know what that means, I think. The cross is our own burden of problems and issues that we are given to carry in this life. Have you ever thought of someone as luckier in life than you, only to find out later on, that they had been carrying a far heavier weight than yours, but they carried it with grace and faith, with charm and poise?

Life has taught me one more thing. We all need a little thorn on our side to keep us going, to spur us on. You know what I mean. That little something that even when everything seems to be going fine is keeping you from being perfectly happy? Then, when you are at ease again, you appreciate fully the simple pleasures of life, of being present at this very moment.

I am thankful for my issues and my thorns that keep me going.
I am thankful for our family and friends who love us, think of us, care about us and pray for us.
I am thankful for you, dear friends, your prayers and kind comments. You kept me going all week.

Sending love and prayers to all, and thanks to Iris for hosting. Have a beautiful weekend.

Holiday Greeting Cards Giveaway

Can you name the one piece of jewellery that spells "chic" all year round?

Yes, you are so right! It's pearls, of course!

Would you like to own a pearl necklace and earrings yourself at affordable prices? Then head to Pearl Necklaces a small company specialising in freshwater pearls as well as cultured akoya pearl necklaces inprices starting from as low as $29.

 Pearl Necklaces is donating a portion of the profits to a number of reputable charities including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and United Way. Which brings us to the giveaway. Just in time for your Christmas wishes to friends and family, the Pearl Necklaces people are offering one of my readers a box of Holiday Greeting Cards from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. 

For your first entry, please go to the Pearl Neclaces website, visualise yourself in one of their timeless chic pieces, then come back here and tell us what it is.


For extra entries:
Tweet about the giveaway. Come back here and leave another comment.
Post on your blog about the giveaway. Comme back and leave one more comment.

Share some love this year with more distant relatives and co-workers. Send them a handwritten Christmas card with a cause!

The giveaway winner will be picked at random on November 21, when we celebrate The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple.



.

Show and Tell Friday-Une bonboniere

Hello dear friends,
Last night we had visitors at the shop. C has a nephew, some ten years his junior, who got married last Saturday. We were invited at the wedding in Athens but we didn't go. We'd have to close the shop at 3p.m., then drive some seven hours to Athens, which means we'd be exhausted and we'd only make it for the wedding dinner. So, although his parents are among C's most loved relatives, we told them that we wouldn't be attending, when they were visiting for another wedding a few weeks ago, and we gave the couple their present, an organic woolen comforter from our shop, yesterday.

C's nephew is a very nice young man, and we got to meet his wife, too. She is a person very much to my taste and temper, not flashy, very down to earth, hard working and with, on top of everything else, very good taste.
They are honeymooning in the area and they stopped by to say hello. They brought us our bonboniere as is the custom, with some extras for relatives who did not attend the wedding.

The ivory colored boxes were tied with two kinds of pink ribbons, and had a heart charm tied on top. Inside there is hard candy, traditionally an almond covered with a sugary coat. There were also pink ones with a cocoa fill as is a la mode.

Our new niece apparently designed and made them herself, which is not usually the case. She did not tell me that, and I didn't ask, but as I opened the box tonight to get a picture, there wasn't a label of the firm that would have made them, as usual. Oh, sweet, eager hands!..

I wish them every happiness.

Many thanks to Cindy of My Romantic Home for hosting a beautiful Show and Tell. Be blessed.

Skywatch Friday-Autumn clouds

Hello dear friends,
Today I am posting a photo I took last Sunday during our trip. The clouds were so low, they could touch the tops of the trees. I love the colors and feel of Autumn!

(Click to view larger) 
Thank you for stopping by and saying 'hello'. I love seeing what the sky looks like in your part of our Earth.
Have a peaceful, cudly weekend.
With thanks to the Skywatch people for encouraging me to look UP!

Thankful Thursday

Hello dear friends,
I am so glad to be here today to give thanks to God.
I am thankful for this little place on the world wide web that I can call my own, a place where I can come and meet friends and feel good and think good.
I am thankful for the wisdom your posts bring me.
Make sure you read this post by Denise, and re-read it if you have already. It is so good!
I am thankful for time spent with my family.
I am thankful for our children an their progress in life and school. They are the flowers of my life's garden.
I am thankful for my doctor. I went to see him today for what is likely the beginning of an asthma. We ran through a list of ailments physical and psychological, depression and phobias, that had been bugging me in the past and I am so thankful that God with His loving hand pulled me out of the abyss and into the light.
May His name be blessed till the end of times.
Let me now give you a glimpse of last Sunday's trip (of which I hope to post soon).

Aren't these like angel wings? (click to view larger)
May I also ask you to keep us in your prayer in the next few days. My in laws arrive tomorrow and will stay for a week or so. You know how hard this is on me, so please pray for God's grace, peace and wisdom in my heart and theirs.
Thank you so much for being here for me. And thank you, Iris, for hosting.
I love you all.

Beautiful Christmas cards

One of the nicest and most talented people you'll find in blogoland has just created a lovely set of Christmas cards. They are so chic and so unique, I invite you to check them out here.

Anne also creates beautiful interior landscapes, cards and notecards and accepts commisions.

Hello! Let's do this together

Hello dear friends,
I hope you are all doing well!
I didin't stop by anyone's place in the past few days. The phone connection was off at home and I stayed at home for a few days. I have an appointment with my homeopath on Thursday. Some old cold, perhaps, triggered by the past few days' constant rain. I do love rain.

On Sunday we went to a mini trip to meet a prospective client. Lovely new places. Forests which I love...I may show you some pictures one of these days, once I transfer them to the computer at home (this one, at work, does not have a picture managing program).

I want to let you know of a request I found at this site. Please send your nicest Christmas cards to that boy!
A new address is at the bottom of the post here.

Nice as they are, I decided to send "Mary Christmas' and not "Seasons Greetings" cards. If I am not offended by other people celebrating their holidays, why should they be?

Sweet blessings to all of you.

Skywatch Friday-Shelter in the church

(Click to view larger)

 ^" O God, listen to my cry!
      Hear my prayer!
  From the ends of the earth,
      I cry to you for help
      when my heart is overwhelmed.
   Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
     for you are my safe refuge,
      a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
  Let me live forever in your sanctuary,
      safe beneath the shelter of your wings!"

(Psalm 61, NLT)

All His beautiful creatures under the wide sheltering sky.

Thank you for stopping by! Do leave a message and I shall stop bya nd say hello.
With extra thanks to the Skywatch people!

Your rubbish=My treasure~ Show and Tell

In the past few weeks I have indulged in some serious decorating both at work and at home. Truth is, I did some clothes shopping,too. My expanded waistline, thanks to some traditional home cooking in the past couple of weeks, required a pair of black elastic waist trousers and a long, brown, elastic waist skirt. Oh what a blessing to be able to think nicer thoughts than fat-fat-fat!  But nice as this may feel,this is not the kind of shopping I'm talking about.
(N.B. When they tell you that Mediterranean Diet is healthy, they also fail to tell you it is fattening, unless you walk the sheep to high pastures every day or raw a boat. It IS healthy, though, olive oil, veggies et al).

Now, I talk here about vintage. In Grece, much to my surprise, there are no garage sales. You would think that in a country with not much of an economy, people would be willing to sell or share. Not. I tried to introduce the concept in the Girl Guides, but people were reluctant to part with their kids' unwanted books or board games, let alone buy anything less than perfect in our one bazaar. No, no such a thing.

On the other hand, a very nice lady who was the girls' ballet teacher, offered me, and I gladly accepted, her teenage son's baby clothes which lasted J up to the age of three. But she had spent more than half of her life in France. And as we all know, the French know a thing or two about brocante.

What have I been stocking on, you might ask. I am going to show you in a moment. Hint: these items below are part of my Christmas wishlist.

I love my new old treasures and I was equally thrilled to receive some presents full of love and kind thoughts.
As you might have guessed, what I longed for was some housewares. I got really nostalgic. I stocked on some well worn Golden books. A brooch that very much looked like one I remember my mom wearing. I received some doilies. And some old post-cards that I'm going to show you soon.

I increasingly desired a corner of my own, where I would indulge in some more romantic, more feminine elements. And, thank God, it is happening. Here, have a look. This is my little corner in the attic.

Which houses some lovingly sent treasures

 

Lovely vintage lace. Paper and envelopes.

And this is my little cross-stitching corner in the den.

So now you know...Before you throw away your 70s melamine, old enamel pots and depression glass, there is someone across the pond, waiting to treasure them!

With thanks to Cindy for hosting.