Days Passed

I seem to be taken with days of the past (or days passed?) lately. It's Downton Abby now - I'm well into season 5, and it's the mid 1920s. I think both my outfits and places for our photo shoots are affected by this. We discovered this gorgeous building about 3 months ago - you probably remember it from my post Abandoned Beauty. The long weekend was a good time to revisit - the weather was mild, the rhodies there are in full bloom, and the park never seems to be too crowded. Perfect for a little romantic getaway.

Write and Link #1: I Opened My Eyes. It Was Pitch Dark Around Me

Book Illustration by Nikolai Kochergin, 1974 (source)

WRITE and LINK 

is a new link-up party here, on In The Writer's Closet, and it is all about writing short stories. 

It is not a fashion/style link-up! It is up to you whether you post text only or illustrate your text with images of your choice. 

I invite you to create a short work of fiction (1000 words or so) in the genre of your choice. 

I do encourage you to write fiction, but if you are inspired to write a personal essay (non-fiction), I won't mind. The most important is to have fun writing - play with it! The button for reading other stories and adding yours can be found at the end of my story. My story came to me in the form of flash drama - about 1500 words. Enjoy reading, and I am really looking forward to reading your stories!

Click here to read

FISH WISH

Flash drama by Natalia Lialina

The next link up will start on June 26, 2015.

Use the June's opening phrase as an inspiration for your story 

(you may change it to fit your story better, just make sure that you keep the essence):

"...When suddenly I saw..."

Wabisabi, and Writer's Link Up Details

I'm in the zone with blogging now - it's that feeling you get when whatever you do brings you enormous joy and feels very rewarding. 

I want to thank fabulous Dana of Dana Loves Fashion and Music for inviting me to participate in her beautiful project called Wabisabi - you can read about the project and why it has such an unusual name, and also see my feature HERE. It's such a wonderful chance to be introduced to a wider circle of bloggers and readers and make new friends. Dana is very kind, and makes everyone feel welcomed and appreciated. I learned about many wonderful new-to-me bloggers through Wabisabi, as well as enjoyed my dear blogging friends warmhearted features. Wabisabi is easy to join at any time, please visit Dana - she is looking for you! 

Where Is My Driver?

Fancy a little time travel with me today? 

I'll be taking you back to the 1930s which seem to resonate with me lately. 

Do not expect pure historical research and accuracy though, just go with me, pretend! 

What should we take as our time machine? Something like this beauty, perhaps? 

Oregon Coast: Eat, Play, Hug, Bunny

"Look! Bears, bears! I swear I saw bears!" cried Anya in excitement.

"Really?! No way they were bears. They probably just were fuzzy cows."

We were coming up with reasonable explanations.

"No, they were bears! I swear!"

Grandpa did not swear, but he also thought they were bears.

So we had to turn our car and come back - I would not forgive myself for missing the unique opportunity to photograph bears in nature... so we did, we photographed those "bears". And so our adventure began.

Sexy Spectacles

I do read in my readers, I promise. I also recently hemmed a pair curtains which needed to be shortened, and it was so much easier to do wearing glasses. But I'm also discovering (not having to wear glasses before, thanks to my 100% vision, right till I turned 40) that glasses can add so much to my style expressions (Justin even suggested that I order "fashion statement" glasses, without special lenses) and that glasses can be sexy, or rather that I can feel sexy in glasses.

Stripes and the City, or Equal in All Directions

Stripes going every possible direction!

I must admit, this is my favorite outfit right now. It came together easily: I ordered both pieces at the same time, on great sale, and when they arrived, it was obvious that they belonged to each other. Though, of course, both will have separate outings as well. I wrote a product review on the site, and I pretty much said it all there. To me, these are bold fashion statement pieces, high fashion if you will - art at its best. To me, they say 1980s and 1930s all at the same time (think art deco). 

Strolling with Chopin

Happy Mother's Day to all my dear friends and readers who celebrate!

I read about the history of this holiday, and it seems that Mother's Day is celebrated somewhere in the world literally every month - different months and days in different countries. When I was a little girl, we celebrated our mothers on March 8th, the International Women's Day. But since then, Russia added a special Mother's Day - in the end of November... Well here, where my home is now, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May - tomorrow. I love this holiday. Sweet words from my little one (not so little any more, wearing almost my size in shoes), ever so precious, any day of the year, but why not to take time and make one special day just to express how much we love them, our dear mothers? No, they did not get everything "right", but then who does? Life is one huge experiment, and we all learn as we go - and learning being a mother is no exception at all, no one is born with perfect wisdom and knowledge of how to do it "just right". Yet, our mothers do try hard to get it "just right", from where they can see of course... and so are we, those of us who are mothers. We also try - we try to love the best we can, from where we can see. And I think it's worth celebrating. 

Dream Dress & Dinner Theater

 

Many pictures and much news!

I was so thrilled when I received a product review invitation from eShakti - the unique online women's apparel company that specializes in customized clothing sizes 0 to 36! This is only the second offer I have accepted, as a blogger, and this one was not to  be missed. Short of having your own talented dress maker, this is the best option to have. The whole process of selecting and tailoring the dress to my wishes was smooth, easy and as much fun as playing paper dolls when I was a child. 

Crazy Just Might Work: I AM A WRITER

Happy May!

I love May. May is one of the most cheerful months for me. Nature is going wild - flowers, trees are in bloom, air is getting warmer and days are getting longer. End of school year. Long Summer ahead. At times, it feels like Summer already! I was born in May too. I believe it somehow makes my personality - cheerful, optimistic, enthusiastic dreamer who just loves life and many different aspects of it. May can be stormy though. It brings not just showers, but thunderstorms. Not only in Mother Nature, but in people's nature. If there is one weather comparison to my personality, it probably is a thunderstorm. Can be big and loud, but does not stay for too long - it passes, and then it's bright sun, birds chirping and flowers blooming again. Crazy!