I don’t usually get up early on Sundays, but the first ever local Etsy festive market was taking place at Mettricks at 11am and I really wanted to get there early, grab a goody bag and check the stalls out before it got too busy.
So Shebz and I were meeting Barbara at Mettricks at 11, but when we got there, there was already a long queue of ladies, children and men who you could see in their faces they’d rather be anywhere else, but that’s what love makes you do I guess!
I must admit, I queued for a gig, at the tube, at the airport but never outside a cafe, let alone Mettricks that feels like second home, I’m there most days. So there I was, at 11am on a Sunday, queuing outside my second home. Who would have thought!
The staff at Mettricks were lovely though and we ordered our coffees whilst queuing outside, so as soon as we got in, they were ready to collect.
It was extremely busy and there wasn’t much room to spend a lot of time at each stall but the actual fair was lovely and so very pretty. Cards, crafts, jewellery, knitwear, pinatas. The photos speak for themselves.
My favourites were Sprig knitwear, Tumble and Rose’s jewellery and Katie Moody’s cards but everything was just beautiful, even their business cards! Thank you to the organisers for a great event and for bringing something different in Southampton. I’m sure it will be even bigger and better next year.
I could not not tell the lovely man next to the first stall we had a look at that I loved his accent. We all had a chuckle.
On my way out I fell in love with the cutest, sweetest little dog, who let me cuddle her and gracefully posed for me. Look at her sweet, friendly eyes.
We planned to stay at Mettricks for another cup of coffee and cake as lovely Sophia, a work friend who recently moved to London was also there and another friend was on their way but there was no space so we popped to Coffeelab.
We shared a slice of an amazing, creamy, festive Chocolate cake accompanied by tea. I went for my favourite tea at Coffeelab and probably my favourite tea of all, Amaretti.
At that moment I realised that this is probably the last time that the three of us will be together.
My best friend, my third sister, my partner in crime, Sheba, is leaving Southampton for good in a month to explore the world and Barbara will at some point move back home to be with her family. And I, well I don’t know if I’ll stay in Southampton. I’ve been saying for a long time that I need to find a job I enjoy and even if that doesn’t happen soon, I’m definitely leaving my current job for something different the first chance I get. Wherever that takes me.
I consider my self superbly lucky and blessed for a fun, beautiful, special day I’l always remember.
Today was all about chores around the house. There won’t be much free time until I fly home on the 21st, so I decided not to do anything else today.
But… I saved some time to make trahanas soup, as you might have seen on my social media.
Trahanas is my all time favourite Cypriot soup. There are numerous variations, but my favourite is the one made of wheat and sour milk. You make the dough, cut it in small balls or nuggets, let it dry and then store it, ready to use on those cold winter days.
You’ll find the Trahanas golden nuggets in every shop in Cyprus, but back home we rarely buy it from a shop. There’s always a relative or a friend who makes some and kindly provides us with.
I really fancied some trahanas soup for a while now but I ran out months ago. For once, Lady Luck smiled on me and the Cypriot intern who started work at Solent recently, Maria, after Cypriot food came up in our conversation, she offered me some of hers, homemade, by her mum!
Needless to say I was over the moon. I’ve been craving it for so long and today was the day!
I didn’t follow a recipe, I just did it how I remembered my parents used to make it, boiled in chicken broth, accompanied by chicken chunks and lots of halloumi!
When I was a child, I used to drain the halloumi pieces out and add them to my plate, so I can have more of it. I know, cheeky and unfair for the rest of the family, please don’t judge.
Whilst cleaning and cooking, Christmas gifts kept arriving, Sam Smith played in the background and I snacked on halloumi the whole time.
My trahanas soup turned out as I expected, creamy, warming and delicious!
So that’s how my Blogmas Day 2 went. It’s been a great day! Now time for my yoga and then snuggle on the sofa with a Christmas movie on and popcorn.
Christmas can officially begin. I’m in great mood the last few days. The next couple of weeks will be busy but amazing with lots of food, friends and laughter! And…
I’m going home in less than three weeks! And after that I’m coming back to sort my life out. But for now I’ll enjoy this month to the very last minute.
This is the first ever time I’m attempting Blogmas and I’m not following any rules, there is no specific theme other than Christmas. I thought what I would do is write whatever I feel like for the next 25 days and see what it comes out. I hope I can post every day until Christmas!
Terrifying but also incredibly exhilarating. God I love writing.
The festivities started yesterday! I got paid so the first thing I did was to order a cute Christmas tree for my cosy little home (more on that on the ‘decorating the Christmas tree’ day) and of course a new Christmas jumper (I get one every year, more on that on Christmas Jumper Day).
We also made our Secret Santa draw for our work Christmas dinner, so I dag out my favourite, soft, fluffy, luxurious Santa hat I had for years and put all the names in for everyone to pick. I can’t believe who I drew, but I can’t say, shhh… It will all be revealed on the 20th…
I spent lunch catching up with my lovely friend Olga who I haven’t seen for a while since she moved to a different job chatting about Christmas, life, our goals and dreams for 2018.
I had a lovely, fun evening at Southampton Christmas market with my awesome friend Sofy, enjoying a hot dog and Amaretto hot choc, talking about the most random things, music, travelling, how I fall in love with smells. And voices. I almost told someone earlier at the coffee shop that I loved his voice. But I didn’t.
I couldn’t sleep so I bought most of the Christmas gifts I wanted to, which got me even more excited!
Today, I wore my Santa hat all morning whilst interviewing Matt for our AS newsletter and I loved all the compliments (for the hat, not Matt). Ian Harris, the Head of Quality Management co-incidentally walked in wearing a festive Music Snowman tie. He is planning to wear a different festive tie until we close for Christmas. I’ll keep you updated 🙂
Suzanne (the boss) was being grumpy about Christmas (‘Oh is too early, it’s still the first of December’- I omitted any swear words she might have used) so Matt put Dominick the Donkey on and I swayed along. It’s been a fun morning!
I went into town at lunchtime to get Advent Calendars for selected few colleagues and myself but they were all sold out 😦
After some afternoon shopping I’m now resting with pizza and Friends, my favourite kind of Friday. I had my first personal training session on Wednesday and I loved it but I’m now aching so I definitely need to recharge my batteries before the next session on Monday (I’ll tell you all about it next time).
So here’s to the weekend. It’s gonna be a good one!
December is almost here and it’s going to be a busy one until the big day. I’m considering doing Blogmas, my version, although I haven’t done it before and I have no idea how it will go, but I’ll give it a shot.
I love everything about Christmas. I know it’s heavily commercialised and exploited by many, but for me Christmas is celebrating with people I love, it’s all about giving and sharing and getting together, accompanied by delicious food and treats, seeing friends and family I don’t get to see often, reminding myself how grateful and blessed I am.
And of course I love Christmas songs, Christmas movies, Christmas decorations, the lights, the festivities. It always feels magical, even in the worst of times. And yes I’m one of those annoying people who feels Christmassy from November and the Christmas tree stays up until the 6th of January, the Epiphany, like in most Cypriot homes.
There is so much going in Southampton, I thought it will be nice to share where I’ll be going to and maybe others can comment on other events they discovered and are going. Unfortunately I can’t go to too many as it will be Christmas lunch/dinner/party season as well as catching up with friends and nights in with a cuppa, blankets, Christmas movies and snacks, one of my favourite things to do, before I fly home for the holidays. But these are the ones I picked and hopefully will make it to.
-Next Sunday, 3rd of December, the first ever Etsy Made Local Festive Market will take place at Mettricks Guildhall and I can’t wait! Local Etsy sellers, Christmas workshops and many more. If you decide to pop by make sure you try the coffee or the hot chocolate at Mettricks, one of the best in Southampton.
-On the 7th of December, Love Bedford Place is putting together a Christmas Spectacular with mulled wine and mince pies, Christmas carols and Christmas raffle amongst others. I live in the heart of Bedford Place so I’m not missing this!
Loving the little Christmas trees above every shop’s doors this year.
Bedford Place
Bedford Place
-On the 16th (depending on the Christmas party hangover) I’ll be joining my old friends from Sing Now choir at Guildhall Square who will be singing Christmas Songs and raising money for the Rose Road Association. Singing in the Square!
Guildhall Square
Finally, this is not an event as such but the lovely Molly is collecting Christmas care packages for the homeless in town until the 17th of December as she will distribute them on the 18th. All details here.
I’ll never get used to the cold but I love Christmas and I can’t wait for December!
I’m sitting on my sofa in my warm winter jumper, heating on, watching Sunday Brunch (I love Bradley Walsh, he is hilarious!) and browsing the internet for Christmas gifts and new wardrobe/style ideas.
After I was done with house chores yesterday I spent the rest of the day comfort eating, reading and watching Christmas movies on Channel 5.
I’m loving all the Christmas adverts out this week. My favourite is probably the Talk Talk one (it’s all about what matters most, family and watching Christmas movies on Christmas day snacking and cuddling with my sisters, our parents falling asleep on the sofa and Oscar the great lying next to us keeping us warm with his fur and occasionally trying to steal our food), closely followed by M&S (I love Paddington, watching it with the family at Christmas is one of my favourite memories). I actually had a sweet conversation on Twitter with M&S that made my day. The little things!
I feel calm, relaxed, rested. And you know why?
I stopped and took a break from all my week plans and obligations and spent my time dealing with all the thoughts and worries nagging me for weeks and treated myself, something I’d advise everyone to do.
I felt tired and drained all week, so much so that I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. The cold made it even harder. But what was going through my mind was the real culprit.
First I was excited applying for a new job but as soon as I start composing my personal statement anxiety and self-doubt kicked in. Should I apply? Am I good enough?
With the help of a great friend who advised me how to link my skills and experience to the role and had a read of my application before I clicked ‘Apply’ I finally did it. Now it doesn’t matter if I get it or not because I know I did my best and that’s all I can do. First worry dealt with.
Co-incidentally I came across an interview Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn gave a while ago. It’s not hard to see why he is highly regarded and admired by many. At some point he talked about happiness. He only realised how truly happy he could be when he met his now wife. Before it was all work work work. Another example that success and money doesn’t necessarily mean happiness. It reminded me again to stop and appreciate the little things. Of course I want to have a successful career in something I love and I’d be over the moon when that happens but life is much more than that.
For about a month now my teeth have been very sensitive and I could not understand why which led to a train of worrying, terrifying thoughts. Since my NHS dentist was fully booked until January I bit the bullet and decided to visit my private dentist, although I don’t have much money left until the end of the month.
Never have I ever felt so horrified going for a check up. But Tobi was lovely and re-assuring (although I held my breath when she said ‘just checking for any lumps or bumps’, a normal part of a check-up, but I’ve been watching so many Stand Up to Cancer clips lately my overworking, crazy brain paralysed me with fear). Totally worth the money.
The cause of the problem: grinding my teeth in my sleep and I need one of those fancy mouth guards. At least I now know what is causing it and how to fix it.
I skipped salsa on Wednesday. I was exhausted, it was freezing cold and the week before I didn’t get to practise any of the steps we learned as most of the men in the group unfortunately can’t get the basic steps and I could not cope with explaining the basic steps again 1,2,3 5,6,7 or even simpler quick, quick slow, quick quick slow and that ladies always turn on the right within those steps not whenever and in whatever direction.
I’m usually extremely patient and understanding but with everything else going on in my head I just couldn’t do it. I may return next week.
I re-arranged my first hot power yoga session for next weekend so I could have a lie in and rest.
The only thing I stuck to all week was my daily yoga and music, my soul medicine. So much good music out there, it’s impossible to mention all the new gems I discovered, but I love Surround me by Leon, Does she Even know by Ider, World Gone Mad by Bastille and new Recording 135 by Leo (one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard), check my Spotify for more.
On Thursday night my sisters sang at a local bar in Nicosia to raise money for a local animal shelter, the one my sister volunteers for and I visited in the summer. I couldn’t be there but my parents (who are not very good with technology) managed to connect us. They didn’t realise everyone could hear them, so I got to listen to their hilarious random conversations, their out of tune singing along, so endearing, I didn’t realise that I could be seen when they accidentally added me as I guest so people tuning in had the chance to see me eating chocolate on camera, I chatted to the people I knew there, my sisters’ friends, and I got to watch almost the entire show live. Thank you mamma and papa!
Facebook live- Southampton and Nicosia
If I could, I would have popped to Cyprus for a week to re-charge and recuperate but since I couldn’t, this was the closest I got to. On Thursday I felt I was there, my parents doing their thing, getting into hilarious situations, sisters singing and me cheering them on in the background. Just what I needed!
Finally, on Friday I celebrated the end of the week with lunch and laughs with my bestie and my lovely lady friends from work. Wonderful, warming ramen at Wagamama followed by take away delicious brownies from Coffeelab. Perfect way to end this week.
Ramen
Orange and hazelnut brownie
I’m rested and ready now for a busy week and weekend.
I love social media for various reasons but mainly because I discover new things locally and I meet awesome, interesting people from all walks of life.
About a week ago I came across a post on Twitter from Docks Cafe on Oxford street in Southampton, a cute, little cafe which I haven’t been before but I really wanted to for a while as I follow them on social media because of the amazing cake photos they post every day.
They were promoting a breakfast and networking event at the cafe organised by Women Who Do (check them out) a network of professional women run by the lovely Emma Downey.
I signed up for it almost immediately. I thought it will be the perfect opportunity to meet and learn from inspiring ladies and a great chance to visit Docks Cafe. Networking over coffee and breakfast, it can’t get better than that.
Yesterday I found out the lady running the hot Yoga classes I’ve been meaning to try for a while and who I follow on social media because of all her amazing yoga related posts was going too.
So today, I woke up bright and early, excited for the event.
And it did not disappoint.
Docks cafe was incredible. Great coffee, fresh pastries-loved my pan au chocolat- lovely decoration and friendly staff. I definitely recommend it especially if you have a sweet tooth like I do (just look at their Insta!).
Every single person I met was lovely and had interesting stories to share. A couple of examples:
Charlotte is an environmental writer who recently moved to Southampton and taught me how gardening can benefit people with depression and anxiety not only because they get to spend time outdoors and do something physical but also because soil can increase serotonin, nature’s anti-depressant. Southampton Council is actually funding a project promoting gardening for vulnerable individuals who might benefit from this. Isn’t that amazing? She regularly posts on her personal blog if you want to find out more about this lovely gal.
Maria works full-time at a tobacco company but also loves anything local and posts often about events and things happening across the city. Check her Insta for everything Southampton related.
Benedita, who is originally from Portugal and moved to Southampton from London, quit her day job and started her own business, teaching hot Yoga. She is the brain behind In Balance Hot Yoga. Needless to say how much I look forward to go to one of her classes.
Emma recently moved to Southampton and is a freelance marketing consultant working with companies across the country. One of my dream jobs!
Naturally we ended up talking about food. I don’t think a day passes by without me talking about food. We are planning to start a supper club, trying different restaurants and food across Southampton!
Women Who Do
Women Who Do
I can’t wait to get to know them all better. I left the cafe happy, excited and grateful I got to meet amazing, inspiring women.
What a great initiative, thank you Emma for organising this. If you fancy meeting these ladies, join us at the next meeting!
Time for reflection and winter preparation (Christmas is coming!).
Last winter was horrible, just horrible for me. I sank into depression, I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I gave up trying and allowed myself to be miserable and sad for months on end.
Fortunately I still managed to get out of bed in the morning and go to work but that was literally the only thing I did, just surviving. I rarely blogged, I abandoned my guitar, I lost friends because I didn’t want to leave the house and the more I sank into this black hole, the less confident I felt to do anything.
‘Why would anyone want to be friends with me?’
‘I’m ugly, I’m worthless, I’m 30 and still stuck here’
‘I haven’t achieved anything, others at my age have done so much more’
‘What the f*** is wrong with me?’
‘Nobody really loves me’
If you ever suffered from depression or went through a rough patch you might recognise these thoughts.
Not having much money left by the end of the month made everything much worse and gave me more excuses not to do anything.
I won’t say more today, I’m saving that for my end of the year reflection. If you want to read more on how deep I sank I’ve written about it a while ago, the most honest post I’ve ever written.
But I miraculously recovered with the help of my family, going home every couple of months keeps me sane, my friends, my colleagues and above all myself. I’m incredibly proud of how I drag myself out of this vicious circle.
And now I feel better than ever.
A year later, I have a feeling this winter will be different. I spend as much time home as I want to because I mastered how to enjoy me time so well I sometimes prefer it to other options and I only go to things I really want to. And I’m now used to going to places and events alone. A year ago just the idea terrified me.
Up until about 2 years ago I was always with someone, my friends and family when I lived back home and my ex boyfriend since I moved to Southampton, so when we broke up I was scared to do anything on my own. I felt I needed to have someone with me all the time and it took me a year to realise that is actually dead easy and pretty awesome to do things on your own.
Depression still creeps in every now and then, it actually did about a week ago, but I now know how to deal with it. I know how to crawl back out that hole.
Yoga is now part of my daily life (this month’s Yoga with Adriene FWFG theme is Begin again, which couldn’t be more fitting), my guitar is my best friend, my inspiration is back and I blog often, I’m meeting lovely new people again, my confidence is at its highest and I’m trying hard to move on to a more rewarding career. Which is tough. Really tough. But patience is a virtue and I’m prepared to wait, no matter how frustrated I feel and how much I crave for change right now.
Yesterday I had an awesome day. I went to Lou Lou’s vintage fair to browse pretty vintage clothes, jewellery and more and got myself lovely earrings and an autumn checked scarf and then had a girlie night in with friends, chit-chatting, snacks and rom-com. My favourite!
I’m still dreading work tomorrow but is going to be a good week with friends’ birthday celebrations, catch up with friends I haven’t seen for a while and I’m also meeting two lovely ladies who just started their own company for the first time, I can’t wait to share more on that!
It helps reminding myself that it doesn’t matter how old I am and where I am right now. You don’t have to wait for the new year to start again. Is not always easy so don’t forget to enjoy the little moments.
So here’s to October, here’s to new beginnings, here’s to you and me.
A horrific blend of holiday blues, crazy thoughts, frustration, confidence crisis, very busy at work with uninspiring tasks needed to be done, hormones and extreme tiredness that caused me to miss a great event on Friday evening (and spend most of the weekend at home so exhausted I could not do much other than move from the sofa to the bed and vice versa) brought me to my knees. I struggled to remain positive.
But fortunately my work survival techniques (blog coming very soon), little treats such as getting coffee in the morning before work and life skills, doing things I enjoy on my free time especially yoga, music, my guitar and blogging kept me sane and kept me going.
Yesterday I really wanted to try Cafe Thrive. I’ve seen an Instagram post about it and yesterday Shebs and I went over to give it a go but it was closed.
So today, since the sun was out I went out for lunch, on my own, just to treat myself.
I loved the decoration (see cover image for their impressive feature wall) and the homely vibe from the moment I walked in.
I got a healthy and yummy Quinoa and Tofu salad bowl (the toasted pumpkin seeds made the dish), which was so large I could not finish it,
Quinoa and tofu salad
and some water. Cafe Thrive has installed a self-service lemon infused water tap so you can have as much water as you want for free. What a brilliant, clever idea. So simple but I’ve never seen it in any other cafes or restaurants.
Tap water
and sat upstairs to enjoy peace, quietness, quality me time. I had the whole floor for myself. I spent most of the time staring at the park views from the large bright windows and thinking about my weekend plans, things I want to do and million other thoughts.
Park views
When I went back to work after lunch, I felt uplifted, revitalised and ready to get the work day over with and come back to my sanctuary.
Don’t forget to treat yourself every now and then. It really makes a difference.
Cheers to Friday finally arriving tomorrow. And is a special one! Friday, payday and last Friday of September! That means Christmas is coming, one of my favourite times of the year. And no, is never too early to mention Christmas!
A Facebook notification came up that I have ‘memories to look back on today’, which sometimes can be depressing but this one was a reminder that I started my blog a year ago on this day.
The day my gorgeous godson was born- happy birthday my little prince!-, a day after my best friend’s birthday (love you Shebz, missing you already), four days after I got heartbroken again by someone who if I met now I wouldn’t look at twice, but seeking acceptance and admiration after you’ve been starved of it for years can ‘dumben’ you.
I was thinking, whilst taking a shower, what I want to write about on this post and I came up with many things as one does in the shower, that’s where some of the best ideas are born, but I can’t fit all in a post so I decided to start writing and see what will come out..
Well, a year ago, when I started this blog I was a total mess and writing was one of the things I wanted to try for a long time but for various reasons (e.g. confidence low, ex boyfriend didn’t think I could etc) I didn’t.
But it was exactly what I needed. It helped me immensely with my trip of self-exploration, seeking the meaning of life (I haven’t figured that out yet) and self-healing.
Over the last year I tried a lot of things, I quit many but the two things I still love and do is blogging (which I don’t do that often but I’ll explain in a bit) and play my guitar.
Music and my guitar are my daily medication. I can’t put into words how it soothes my soul when I come home after a long day or at weekends, and I get to play and sing. I’m not and don’t by any means want to be a pro. I know I’m not that good at either. But for me is self-expression, healing and confidence boost. A year ago I wouldn’t imagine posting a video of me singing and playing but now I do and I don’t care if nobody likes it as long as I do.
When I started this blog a year ago I was full of optimism and I still try to be optimistic but it is much harder.
I try to remind myself to enjoy every minute and get out, do things, push myself. But it’s not always easy when life throws shit at you. You do your best but it’s not always enough.
I had a rough couple of months and I didn’t want to post something just for the sake of it. There was nothing meaningful to share. I go back and read my older posts every now and then and life has changed me a lot within the last year but I’m grateful for all the lessons I learnt. It’s been a tough year but there were many good, beautiful moments too.
I know a lot of people who are struggling right now. I don’t think I’m the only one I had a cry at work recently because life got too much. But I also know there is much worse.
I feel now it’s time again to get out and try more things and explore myself and the world. But I find it hard so my way of dealing with it is one step at a time.
One of the things on my bucket list is to travel more. I’ve been to Berlin and Edinburgh last year but this year I want more. I know it might not be possible. But as a greek saying goes ‘η ελπίδα πεθαίνει πάντα τελευταία’ – ‘hope dies last’.
I’ll start with doing what I wanted to do for years, explore the beauties of my home, beautiful island, which I got to do a little bit last year, but there is much more to see! If I don’t post again before that, my next post will be in the end of March, full of pictures of my gorgeous homecountry, Cyprus.
I have no answers to anything but this last year taught me a lot and made me a better person. And a part of it is because of this blog.
Thank you to everyone who’s been reading my rumblings.
I feel emotional right now because I am going home for 2.5 WEEKS!! I haven’t had such a long holiday for a while… And last time I went home for that long I didn’t really want to come back I ended up staying for 3 weeks (thank you again Chris, best manager ever!)!
And this time it will be even more special (most of you know why), I am so excited I might burst!!!!!!!
I feel the need to say goodbye to everyone for some reason…
I am going to miss a LOT of people, a lot of you lovely people reading this at this very moment. My choir families, workplace (Louise, ‘I don’t give a f***’, lol) and SingNow (love you all, Claire ‘badday’ haha xx!), my colleagues (all the fun and laughs, and I know you’ll miss me, it will be too quiet without me around, Donna you are a legend!) and of course my friends, older and people I got to know better lately (don’t forget to smile 🙂 ). I will miss our daily chats, last minute plans, Sunday Jams, all the fun and laughs… And most of all my partner in crime Shebz! I love you so much hun, I wish I could take you with me! Remember #fakeittillyoumakeit x
I mentioned it a lot of times but I feel incredibly lucky to have amazing people in my life.
For those I haven’t had the chance to give a cookie-who doesn’t love some chocolate!- and say goodbye in person today, I am sending you a big big hug.
I am closing this post with the song that always marks my visits back home, the song which always reminds me of the Cyprus sun, culture and love, the song I sing with my sisters and friends, the song that I never get bored of, the song I listen to when I wanna feel loved and safe because it reminds me of my special ones, the song I dance to whilst walking to and from home. (I’ve done a quick translation ages ago for non-Greek speakers, because the lyrics are just beautiful- and a friend asked me what the lyrics meant, I remember Jack!) epimoni translation
I can’t wait to experience that feeling of excitement and nervousness when I get to the airport, one of my favourite places!
Lessons I learned after I turned 30 