Iconically North American

I usually share more or less elaborate outfits on my blog, but on those days when I feel overwhelmed and crave simplicity, I am drawn to loose dresses in natural fabrics, much like this chambray number. I wore it quite a few times lately, enjoying the modern lines, pockets, high-low hem and of course polka dots! Polka dots just make everything better, don't they? 

Anya and Her Wings: Books & Games for Fun Family Time

My dear friends and readers,

I usually open my posts with a photograph of my outfit, but this time I wanted to tell you about another creative child of mine - the BILINGUAL BOOK SERIES and INTERACTIVE WEBSITE that my brother and I have been working on for many years now. Come and meet our awesome team who tirelessly work on this fun educational project! Since we are not only the authors, but also makers of our books, we do all the promotional stuff ourselves. We are at the very beginning of a long journey, there are lots of things unknown to us, and we learn as we go. Your encouragement and friendly support mean A LOT to us! If you have children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or if your friends and neighbors have kids who might enjoy our books, please consider purchasing them. Books are a wonderful gift! On our website you can enjoy our FREE GAMES and COMPLIMENTARY COLORING PAGES - gifts to all our readers. If none of the usual retail options I discuss below work for you, contact me directly, and I will figure out a way of delivering our beautiful, heartfelt books, made with lots of love and humor, right to your doorstep - signed by me of course! If you are signed up with such websites as Amazon or Goodreads, you are welcome to leave your honest feedback about our books. We were over the moon to receive our first review (5 stars!) from lovely and thoughtful Ivana (read it on her blog HERE and on Goodreads HERE)!

Please feel free to ask me whatever you're interested in - 

I'm open and eager to talk, and I encourage your curiosity. :) 

Ferry to Bainbridge

 

A couple of months ago, I shared pictures of two dresses on my FB page, mentioning that at that point I liked them both equally, though I purchased only one, and at the time of ordering I had a very strong preference. The intriguing part of my story was that I couldn't remember which one of the two dresses I picked. 

Local Language

This coming Spring marks 15 years of my making the US my home - and 10 years of our family making the Pacific Northwest our home. When you relocate to a new place, there is always a lot to learn, including learning a new language. And I don't only mean a national language - English, in my case. Justin is a born and bred American, but for him too there is a need to learn to understand locals from time to time. Let me show you just a couple of examples of how and why. One occasion would be simply spelling and pronunciation that don't go hand-in-hand. While it's often the case with the English language, there also are other languages that get involved - like French or local Indian tribal languages. For instance, if you're driving I-5 visiting from out-of-state, you might read the name of the city Puyallup as PY-all-up, as in "pie", or perhaps POOY-all-up as in "pooh" (Winnie the, of course), and good luck asking about it then. The locals pronounce it PYU-all-up. Tricky, huh? Yet it's just one example, and every place has plenty - something that only locals know like the back of their hand, and what takes a lifetime for newcomers to learn.

Tender Transitioning

It was a rainy day in Seattle, and when I looked in my closet, I felt like I had nothing to... well, you know. Until I spotted this Spring-y dress under another dress (storage issues!) and thought to myself, what the heck! It isn't Spring yet. But it is coming. Camellia in our yard started opening its very first buds at the end of January. Birds are singing in a very Spring-y voice! It was snowing later, but so what? The snow melts here quickly anyway. It knows Spring is just around the corner - not behind the mountains, as we say in Russia.

Modish Matrons: Folk Art

 

Welcome to Modish Matrons - a link-up that once a month offers you a theme to play with and an opportunity to get together to share our diversity and love of fashion and style! Add your link in a special place at the very end of my post, and please visit my beautiful co-hostesses Tina and Beate to see their interpretation of the theme!