Master Bedroom During Christmas Holidays

Hello Everybody! :-)

I've just finished with decorating in our master bedroom. I didn't overdo it this year, I just added some bits and pieces here and there :-) 

These Santas are hanging from the nobs on our closet. They are very old. Mum bought them when I was about 2 years old.

This is my favorite dress ever from my childhood. I was in a school play, when I was at the elementary school, and I got the part of a New Year. My parents bought me this dress and a diadem. That was a wonderful experience. Throughout my whole childhood, I was a regular tomboy, but on this day I was a lady with magical powers. I pretended it was real and that I could make some magic happen.:-)

I hanged it on the side of the closet, and it is part of the Christmas decor. It keeps bringing the good memories from my childhood.

I placed our white Christmas Tree next to my Love's side of the bed. I put a mirror next to it, too, because it looks great at night. I just added some purple lights on  it ( and the lights actually look red for some reason). Probably because of the white color of the Tree.

 These are our cozy pillows. (Yes, they are pink, I admit officially, I like pink color, now).

I put a white and gold butterfly on my pillow. I love butterflies. Especially in the winter when there's no any.

And a white and blue one is on my Love's side. He likes it a lot. :-)

This is the diadem I mentioned. I placed it on our headboard.  Isn't it lovely? :-)

Next to my side of the bed, there is this green bottle with some Christmas lights in it. I painted this wicker bottle holder this summer.

And this basket, too. I showed it to you, and I couldn't decide what I'm gonna be using it for. Well, I decided to put some of my favorite magazines inside.

Uh, I have to show you this. You see the magazine GRAZIA? With the girl in white? This number is from February 2011. I love this jacket and I had to take a picture.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

Look at this golden, chain like ornament around the hood and on the sleeves.  This is some awesome jacket.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

I found this, too. I would buy this one only if it's fake fur. Animals should keep their skin.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

Enough with winter clothing! :-)

This is the rest of ornaments. I pretty much 'localized' them! :-)

Another, very old Christmas ornament.

Cherubs are still in their old position, nothing changed. :-)

Our little wreath.

And some good old ornaments in a bowl and on a cake stand. 

 Hugs, hugs, hugs!!! :-)

Today I'll join:
                                 
Sherry at the Charm of Home

Home Sweet Home #97               

Courtney at the French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home

Show and Tell Friday!

Little Decorations in Our Kitchen

I can't believe how busy I am. I guess everybody is busy these days. While I was cleaning yesterday, I decided to decorate just a little part of our kitchen. Mum's cooking these days a lot. Well, mostly baking. That's not good. No, sir. She always bakes as if she has to feed the army, and everything tastes so good. Before the snow, mum and dad often went to mushroom picking. I am not a big fan of mushrooms, but when you add the right spices... Yummy! I am the only vegetarian in the family (including all my relatives and friends). I also experiment with food a lot, and miracles do happen in the kitchen. Or catastrophes. :-) Depending on how concentrated I am. My mum is a chef and I learned from her that cooking is a form of art. I just remembered Richard Gere in "Autumn in New York".  When he says: ''Food is the only beautiful thing that truly nourishes''. True. Well, for the right kind of food. I would add love to this quote. :-)

Yeah... Definitely! Love and food, my friends. :-)

Some tea cookies, tea, and some decorations...

  

Nothing is better than a hot drink on a cold winter day.

Just some gold, sparkly decorations. And red color.

Mum bought this cloth in 1986, a year before I was born. I love this doggie (not to mention the Christmas theme).

My love bought me this cute bear candle holder somewhere around last Christmas. A bear in a booth, covered with snow... It makes me think of my love when I'm in the kitchen. Maybe I should move it... Burned food is not nourishing. That reminded me, I am out of this little candles. I guess I'll have to add that to the list.

This is a last year present from our friends.  A snowglobe in a sack, with Santa on the side. I love it! :-)

Just two decorations hanging from the nobs on the kitchen cabinet. I painted this five months ago. It was a quick project. It was dark brown before.  White suits it well, I think.

Today I'll join:
                                 
Sherry at the Charm of Home

Home Sweet Home #96                

Courtney at the French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home

Show and Tell Friday!

I want to thank everybody for their comments and support. It means a lot to me.

Hugs, hugs, hugs! :-)

Surprise of a Day

This is what I saw when I got up this morning.

This Year's First Snow

I was really surprised. Somebody told me that snow might fall on Monday, but I didn't take that seriously. I was in Kragujevac for a couple of days, and this morning I had to go to my parent's house. I got up, and thought that it was raining heavily, but no, it was snowing! I screamed and woke up my love who was pretty much in a deep sleep. I LOOOVE snow. This is officially the beginning of the Christmas season for me. I really don't like when New Year and Christmas come and go without a drop of snow. And it happened a couple of  times in previous years. You see in the picture that it really wasn't much of a snow, and it melted fast on the concrete. However, when I got into a bus and rode out of the city, everything was covered in a thin white coat. It was so lovely! :-)

If you want to know how heavily it can snow here, this is a photo which pretty much speaks for itself.

The Last Year's Snow in My Front Yard

And this picture was taken twelve days after it fell. On the first day it was about two feet, seven inches tall (about 80 cm). My family and I were shoveling like crazy. We were also fooling around in snow ( we made snow angels, threw ourselves into snow, well, mostly my love and I, my parents thought we got crazy ) It was great, but I got sick afterwards. I hope for a great snow this year, too. I just love when everything is covered in white, when everything looks so clean and fresh. It's like you are rolled into a giant marshmallow.

 Beautiful Old House (2)

This morning I was in a serious hurry. I had some errands to take care of and while I was jumping all over the place I had to pass by this beautiful house. The reaction was pretty much: stop, turn, find the camera (I always carry my camera with me), take several photos, then notice another house nearby, photograph that one, too, and the one next to it... I almost missed my bus. 

Isn't it beautiful? :-)

On each corner, and in the middle of the house, there are these beautiful sculpture like decorations. Basically a head of a child surrounded by some curly ornaments. At first I thought that these were cherubs with wings, but after I took pictures and zoomed them in, I saw they weren't.

I caught with my camera the one in the middle.

Well, maybe we can see them as cherubs, peaking from some place unknown to us.

And then, at the bottom, there were these plant and flower like ornaments, placed on an open wreath. This is so baroque. I like baroque on the outside. It makes me think of time of chivalry, musketeers.  Basically it reminds me of novels written by Alexandre Dumas. Or Jane Austen...    

The Christmas Time

Sneak peek at my little tree

Oh, my favorite time of the year! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! Everything changes! Food tastes better. The air smells of snow. I even see hope in people who are known as born pessimists. Actually, no matter what your religion is, or do you even believe in God, there is that light in the air, the sense of profound need to  hope. 

Wait for it...

This time of the year is meant for dreaming, for thankfulness, for words: I love you, and a true wish for better tomorrow. Not just for one person, but for everyone. As a child I used to pray for early snow, to see Santa Clause at least once (I could never catch him red handed!), that my family stays healthy and safe, and... For love. I always prayed for love. My wishes haven't changed (Santa is a sneaky little guy, I still can't catch him of guard), but I definitely have changed. 

I am thankful for every single day on Earth, for my loved ones, whether they are near or far, for chances, for hope and forgiveness. 

My little tree!

I wish you all love and peace. 

(If somebody catches Santa, I have a message for him - drive your slay with one eye open!) :-)

HO HO HO....

Beautiful Old House

This is one of the oldest houses in Kragujevac. It is built before Second World War. (It is not too old, because there are much older places, both in Serbia and Europe). However, this is one of my favorite places to pass by when I go for a walk. 

It is full of moss and mold and it is falling apart gradually. 

I love its ornaments around windows. 

The top of the house is threatened the most, especially when it is snowing heavily. 

You can notice that the two top windows are broken. 

There are people who actually live there. I just hope that the state of the walls inside is not bad.  Some of the windows are brand new, so probably they took care of the problematic areas inside. It is ridiculous how this house affects me. If I am sad, seeing it makes me cry, and if I am in a normal, casual state, seeing it makes me exhilarated. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s my hormones. :-)

Anyway, I will try to catch with my camera all the beauty of rusty, antique and charming places, and share it with you.

Soon...

There is a saying: "A person is lucky if he/she can find one true friend." I was very lucky in this area. Maybe, the better choice of words is I was blessed. Ana and Ivana, my dearest friends in the world, became a part of my family a long time ago. I do not think that anyone else is understandable when it comes to my utopian weirdness.

Anna, one of the most significant people in my life, came to my Slava also, with love of her life Milos.

They also had in mind that I started with shabby decoration from Milan's and my bedroom. So, my Ana and Milos brought us this beautiful vase. It is so unusual and I LOVE IT.

Our Annual Celebration

When it comes to religion, Serbs are, like Greeks, Orthodox Christians. We celebrate Christmas and Easter, like Catholics, but on different dates. There are, of course, cultural differences, and some other religious practices that are quite different.  When you are an Orthodox Christian you celebrate Slava. What happens is that your family celebrates the name and life of a particular saint who is the protector of your family and home (a Patron Saint). Every year on the 27^th  of October (Gregorian Calender), we celebrate our Slava, Saint Petka.

Saint Petka

We organize a party and our relatives and friends visit us. Normally, you don't have to call people to your Slava because they mark the date in their Calendar and they are set for that day. They don't make other plans. Of course when people come to your Slava for the first time, you have to invite them. Later on, they know when they have to come. Now, the young people don't go with all the rules, because people live very fast these days. And I do have to remind my friends when they have to come. Older people know. Young keep forgetting (that's an irony), so I remind them two weeks earlier. :-) 

My Ivana (I call her mine because of our friendship that is one of the most significant things in my life) gave me a beautiful present that belonged to her family. It's a heart shaped Sara Key wall ornament and I love it! She supports me in this shabby style home decorating, and her present is perfect  for my bedroom. I LOVE IT!

If you want to know more about Slava go to  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slava

and if you want to know more about Saint Petka go to  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parascheva_of_the_Balkans

Autumn is here

I like the change of colors, the nature in its new suit. It's still warm but you can feel the touch of coldness late in the evening. We cannot sit outside for a long time like in the hot summer nights. We sit on the porch and somebody always cries: "It's freezing! I can't feel my legs" like its -10 degrees Celsius. :-) It's not that bad... We don't celebrate Halloween in Serbia but that doesn't stop us from practicing it. It includes an excellent company, drinks, costumes, horror movies and pop corns. Since I studied English language and literature, my friends from college and I are familiar with American and British culture. And we like it. So we celebrate Valentine and Halloween. We chose the best. Christmas is a different story. We celebrate ours on the 7th of January and it is my favourite holiday.

I thought, now it's the right time to start enjoying the hot tea.

The summer is (almost) gone and the cold tea will just have to wait for several months. I don't mind. I'll enjoy in the autumn trees, smell of the earth and rain. It is time for my rubber boots. :-)