MAY SKIES

Fashion Trends - Beach Fashion

Good Morning my friends!!!

 Friday is already here and soon it will be weekend…yeah! It is really hot here in Greece and tomorrow will be 1^stof June so officially Summer is here! The usual problem we have to face with is how ready we are for summer period! And here comes the panic! We have just realised that we have gained a few pounds, gotten out of shape, maybe lost our summer tan. And so what? Keep calm and enjoy the best season of the year with less stress and better mood!

In the warmer, longer, lazier days of summer, the living may not be easy, but your life probably feels less chaotic. Even adults tend to adopt a "school's out!" attitude in summer. And this is what I am suggesting today! Plan your first weekend break by the sea and relax!  Do not think about do’s and don’ts yet!

 I do not know if this also happened to you, but sometimes on my vacation I was enjoying the sea so much that I didn’t go to the house to change clothes and then go to the beach party with my friends. Most of the times I was lucky enough to wear clothes that were perfect matched for such an occasion and of course I could even wear them going out for a drink… without the salt from the sea of course (hahaha).

 A wonderful minimal shirt with a beautiful short pants in summer colors. Combine them with a small handbag in the same colors and simple, adorable accessories in the same shades and you will “rock”. Floral ballerina shoes are always in fashion, trendy and of course comfortable!

1.Shirt/pants 2.Earrings 3.Shoes 4.Handbag

Open your wardrobe and grab your favorite pieces from last years. The trends, the latest fashions may only add a few jazzy colors, few logos and few statements. The trends change, but the base always remain, so do not worry if you haven’t the time yet for upgrading your wardrobe.

Use your creativity to mix up things to get what you want. Use natural tones for a secure result

1.Sandals 2.Beach Bag 3.Beach Towel

or just search for nautical pieces, which are always on trend.

1.Swimmsuit 2.Beach Bag 3.Hat 4.SunGlasses 4.Ring

Just do not forget to always have with you SunGlasses, big towels and of course sun screen lotion!  Stay tuned with Efzin for more summer trend reports and great tips for this summer!

Enjoy your weekend!

P.S. Check more Friday outfits in Estella's blog!!!!


mats mouts

DIY - Sea Stone Ring

Good Morning my friends!!

In my last walk by the sea I was lucky enough to find a few cute and very beautiful rocks, possibly from a tile that has been modified from the salty water. So, I collected them and yesterday a few ideas came up in my mind, on how to use them. I will try to post a few tutorials with them.

Let’s start…. Summer is almost here and we may use accessories with more colors or more natural materials. We can create a beautiful, simple ring with one of the rocks and we can create it with the colors we love.

What are we going to need

-      Glue (I use E6000, but any glue for jewelry will be great)

-      Paint brash

-      Ring base (I choose one in silver color)

-      Colors for ceramic

Procedure

I really enjoyed this crafting since I did it with my daughter. Just simple use the colors you love and paint the stone. I wanted to create a ring with the two favorites colors for summer season and in a simple, geometric pattern.

When you finish the paint  just let the stone for a while to dry. And then you are done… just put glow in the ring base and glue the rock. Your ring is ready!

Just to be sure, let the glow for 24h and then your ring will be really stable.

If you want to make it more “bright” or more “flashy”, you may add with white glue glitter or just use transparent varnish. 

So…what do you think? A pure natural ring that is really uncommon!

Enjoy!!!! Happy Crafting!!!

Scrutiny Of A Mother: It's In The Memories

I gave work the finger by leaving an hour early today. But still, leaving the office at 3:50 did not get me home until 6:40ish. Picking up the kids from my mom's house usually adds a good 20  minutes to the commute (we have to pack snacks for the road, clean up toys, collect our things, make sure everyone goes potty or has a fresh diaper) making my 2.5 hour commute even longer. Tonight, as soon as we got home, the kids turned into pumpkins, Ryan having screamed most of the 40 minute drive of the last leg of our journey and Jacob having slept through it all so soundly that he peed himself.

After feeding the kids a super-mom meal of old dino-shaped chicken nuggets, oatmeal, and strawberries, I really had no choice but to put them to bed. I just couldn't handle the whining anymore. Regretfully, I tucked them in and snuck out of their room. As soon as I closed the door, I felt a heaviness weighing me down. I hadn't seen them all day. I hadn't got my one hour of cuddle and play time.

Sometimes, as a working mom, I feel so absent. Even when we are under the same roof. Often times, I come home exhausted. And they come home bursting with pent-up tantrums. It doesn't help that I carry around mental baggage of the urgent work projects waiting on my desk.

I wonder sometimes if the little boys around my kitchen table are getting enough attention from me. Real attention. Focused attention. Even when I set aside time to give them my attention, I find their childish games are amusing at first but then quickly become repetitive and boring. As we sit down for a fourth game of Uno or Memory or See-What-Jacob-Can-Pretend-To-Blow-Up, I'm itching for an excuse to escape. Maybe I have to do some laundry? Isn't there a sink full of dishes? Then a pang of guilt strikes right through my mommy-soul. How did my own mom play board games with us for hours and not want to melt into the perfect-shade-of-beige carpeting of my childhood home?

It's easy to tell when a child's physical needs are being met. There is no mistaking the smell of a dirty child, the cry of a hungry child, or the nagging of a tired child. But how do you know if your kids are getting enough of the one resource you cannot multiply? How do you know your kids are getting enough of your time? How do you know if you are filling them up with enough good memories of you to outweigh the memories of the moments of your absence?

As I tuck my children in, pull the covers tightly around them, smooth their hair, and kiss their cheeks, I stop to study them for just half a second. I wish I could sneak inside their heads and scrutinize the contents of their memories. What does it look like in there? Every night I ask myself the same thing: "did I give them enough today?" I'm so terrified that the answer is no. That the answer is perpetually no and that they are running on the fumes of a year-long deficit of their mommy's attention.

Everything feels so out of my hands right now. I don't know how to conjure more time out of thin air. I feel trapped in a sea of routine and habits that I cannot change or give up. Too many times, I put other things before my own kids or just give them half of my attentions.

I always promise myself I will do better tomorrow. Always. Only to find myself asking the very same questions.

SHE TRAVELED... Marina and Finland

This is a new series, in which I'm going to feature women whose life has sent them on travels... and whose creative inspiration draws upon the suggestions a place, a country, a landscape, a new world has ushered into their soul. Some of them have fallen in love with a place, some of them have fallen in love with a country, some of them have even fallen in love with a person, some of them travel back and forth between two Homes, some of them have moved their life to a new place... All of them draw their inspiration from a place dear to their heart.

Meet my first guest... Marina! Marina comes from a sunny Italian town by the sea, but Life has taken her up North... to Finland. She has fallen in love with the Finnish forests and lakes, and with a wonderful man. Marina loves Italian and Finnish vintage, but it's in her collection of Finnish vintage jewelry that her love for her second home becomes evident. She lovingly photographs the pieces in the wonderful landscapes of Finland, among trees and forests, near lakes and often in snow. You can find her collection of vintage jewelry and accessories in her Etsy shop Andolina's Wishes, while her handmade jewelry and romantic bookmarks are available in her other shop Marina's Wishes. Check out her beautiful blog to find out more about her inspiration and to see her great photos of nature and what's inspiring her!

All photos by Marina©

This week's finds - Neon Geometry!!!!

Good Morning my friends!!!

This period in my country the students have exams in order to enter to the university they choose. I have been "there" many years ago (time goes by so fast...) and I really do know how they feel. Tired, anxious, disappointed... but when they succeed feelings are change! When I succeeded to pass the exams, I thought it was the greatest thing in my life... of course it was, but then I was lucky to have more memorable moments like that... my wedding, my daughter's birth, moments with friends, beautiful trips....

One of my favorite lessons was Geometry! Oh yes... so today my finds are full of geometry but also full of colors just to cheer you up! 

Cake Bunting

Wooden desk lamp

geoscape magnetic wall art 

A beautiful Giveaway

Geometric Art Pencil Box

Geometric Paper Ornaments

Have a wonderful week and My best wishes to all the students! Good Luck!

mats mouts!

Holiday Weekend: Work & Play

As a gift from opposing counsel, an intense motion landed on our desks mid-last week. The motion was an attempt to exclude evidence that would be really critical to our case. It also involved an issue of first impression in our state (at least no higher court had ruled on the issue). Our response was due today which meant my boss and I took turns working on it all holiday weekend. Good thing our family hadn't planned that trip...!

It was kind of a bummer only because the motion was intense and complicated. I really only worked 9 hours over the span of three days but it was constantly hanging over my head. It wasn't the completely carefree weekend that I had been looking forward to. (There is a major silver lining regarding this motion: the documents that the motion attempts to exclude, the documents that are  the smoking gun of our defense...we didn't even know they existed until we read opposing counsel's motion! The motion was a gift from them in more ways than one.)

When I wasn't scouring Westlaw for obscure case law from all across this great country, I managed to have a mostly laid-back, fun weekend. Despite the ever-strong pull of the couch, I managed to get some running in. I am so relieved that it is no longer like pulling teeth to get my body to run five consecutive miles. I can even run below 8:00 mile pace. I'd eventually like to run another half-marathon but I still have a ways to go. I have to be able to belt out 10 consecutive miles without pushing myself too hard before I will sign up for a half. So yeah, I need to be able to double my workout.

My favorite thing about weekends is waking up slowly and lounging with my favorite men:

I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday. I love that place. It's like my version of a casino. I absolutely hate casinos and gambling because I hate losing money. But at Chuck E Cheese, you can always win a ticket! After many trips to CEC, I've totally learned how to game the system. Literally. There is one game in particular that I've completely mastered (e.g. I've memorized the timing of the spinning lights) so I am guaranteed to be a "big" winner (12 tickets per coin!). I'm so very proud of my skills. I'm pretty sure I just rewrote the definition of the word "pathetic." But that's ok.

Sunday I met up with my sister and we took the kids to the YMCA pool. Ryan lasted 30 minutes before the bluish color of his lips began to alarm me. Jacob continued to splash with his aunt while we watched from the warmer sidelines. The pool is heated but it is still never warm enough for my liking. We then enjoyed a relaxed late lunch fireside at Panera. Even when our weekends don't involve anything thrilling, I absolutely enjoy just spending time with my kids outside of the house. I just love soaking up my time with them over the chores and errands and other mundane tasks.

One sign it is the weekend: Jacob is perpetually pant-less.

We laid low on Monday. I don't think I even changed out of my pajamas or left the house. Along those lines, I didn't blow dry my hair once over the weekend. I never put on anything more fancy than yoga pants and I don't think I even put on a bra! And I took naps each day. That part was fantastic. I didn't even mind billing hours from my own couch because I knew I could close the laptop every once in a while to "rest my eyes." Which I did. Trust me.

These guys took lots of naps too:

On a different note, tonight is our six year elopement-versary. I can't believe it's been six years. That's incredible to me. We celebrated by sharing some Taco-flavored chips while being Jacob's Dinner Enforcement and picking up all the food Ryan kept flinging onto the floor. We're so romantic....honestly though, we pride ourselves in being very low-maintenance and low-expectations people. We don't feel compelled to pamper ourselves often. Maybe sometime next month we will plan a dinner date. Or, if the gravitational pull of the couch is stronger, maybe we won't.