Monday Morning Happyness

There are several reasons for one to be happy on Monday Mornings and there are enough reasons to not be (end of weekend and what not) but one can always find a reason to be happy on a Monday morning that will evidently make for a brighter start of the week!

I've got two today:

1. Forgotten money in coat pocket- SCORE!

2. A beloved song is on the radio on the way to work! Not so much for the good music, but the memories it's associated with.

Modern Day Stalking

In my wonderful august adventure in America (!), I had  the pleasure to meet the awesome girl that is Marissa Langman! She's a copywriter and she's just amazing! We bonded over the sexyness of Joseph Gordon Levitt, photobooths, sangria, music and fake tatoos! She showed me the best of San Francisco and it was memorable. 

So Marissa is a big fan of social networking sites- and so am i! Recently she published an article sharing her thoughts on modern day stalking. You can read the full article

Go ahead and read this : http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/4364-does-googling-your-friends-make-me-a-stalker

Here are some of my fav quote: 

"Would we have this same urge to discover such mundane information about strangers and acquaintances if it wasn’t so readily available? I’d like to think I wouldn’t be lurking in alleys or peering through windows to get this type of information – I hope, I really do hope."

I certainly hope not- that would be s stweird. I do think though, that part of it has to do with people oversharing. It's just there for us to see. I personally think one of the characteristics of the teach-savy generation is oversharing and therefore, over-receiving. This simply makes us addicted to information, and when it's a slow day on facebook we'll have to find it elsewhere. Part of it has to do with the fact that in past decades people were more private too. But, in the prior to facebook era, didnt we talk about people too??We didnt lurk in alleys, but wouldnt we jump with excitement when our friend heard from another friend who heard from another friend that our crush was at the cinema?!

The truth of the matter is, we are shaped nowadays to store useless information. Before facebook, it was tabloids. Millions of magazines have been sold because a celebrity had a baby or a nervous break down. The internet has allowed- in a way- all of us to feel like celebrities. We share private stories or funny ones with our facebook community with is compiled by people we either speak to or dont- and thats fine, because we are knowingly do it. What happens next?Oh the sharers become stalkers. I dont think anyone who shares stuff on facebook, isnt interested in seing what other people share too. 

Lets just consider for a second how people interact nowadays - it's mostly online. Where people used to meet at bars or on the street, this has moved to the virtual hang outs now : facebook messaging, twitter, even tinder. One would say, people meet traditionally still, yes they do, and then they look each other up on facebook. Which bring me to my next quote from Marissa : 

"1. Does he have a girlfriend? 

2. What are his friends like? 

3. What does his ex look like?"

We go in search of this sort of information as soon as possible. Why? Simply because we want to save ourselves the trouble and the agony of wondering. If all the single ladies can find this stuff out with the occassional awkward conversation and the heart race that comes with it, why not? And this is a result of the pace of modern life. Everybody is in a hurry to meet standards and goals set by society: must get a good job, must find good boy, must get married. In the end though, we simple cant do it all and be happy and on top of it.

And remember, sharing is caring (!) 

Soul By Madeleine Flores

Just how awesomely amazing is this???

all credits here : http://madeleineishere.tumblr.com/ 

Tasos and Marietta were seating on a tree....

So Saturday was an super awesome day! Marietta from Double Crochets tied the knot!! It was a wonderful wedding full of love and music. The bride and groom were happy, relaxed and in love- it was the perfect combination! 

The party involved lots of live music from three different bands and the vibe was that of a celebration  of a union. I wish them all the best from the bottom of my heart! 

I hope you all took a moment to admire the beauty and awesomeness of the bride!!! 

September

A lot of people say that September kinda sucks because it's the end of the summer, also most possibly the start of fall/winter but i personally i'm quite fond of September.

Here's what happens in September:

1. The weather is not too warm but not cold either, so you can wear you most loved clothing items without worrying for the heat (something that happens quite often in Greece). Also, the colours and the prints!!!

2. Weddings: a lot of wedding in september. I love weddings so i'm not too hassled about that.More importantly: my friend Mariettas wedding <3 It's this saturday - the excitement is immense!!

3. You get to meet all the people you havent met because it was the holidays or it was summer or you wanted to eat your weight in ice-cream and stand in front of the air condition all night. Speaking of ice-cream, here's the most awesome ice-cream i've had lately :

three twins <3

I mean come on!! Even the name is amazing! Also, if you eat it in september you dont have to worry about wearing a bikini, tights season is on it's way!!!

4. American Television : all my favorite shows are back !!! This years picks : "The New Girl" and also " The Mindy Project". Because Mindy is simple amazing and i can totally see myself in her, she's like Bridget Jones of the new decade- or millenia. I have a crash on her. Also on the way she dresses.

I also think it's pretty amazing that someone whos not size -2 is starring on a show and is wearing awesome clothes!

5. The Music: there is something about september and the music, anything you listen to fits in place and time and feels just right. I'm going through the 1940s music obsession.

6. The Bars: not too cold for outside but not too warm for inside: you favourite bars and your local are open for bussiness after a summer tha felt like hell on earth.

Winter: bring it on. I'm ready for you.

American Adventure

I finally crossed the pond over to the US!! It's been a long time i wanted to do just that, and i never thought there would come a day when i'd land at San Francicsco International Airport!!

I started obsessing about the trip over there, after all 12 hours in a flying machine is a very very long time but i will talk about that in a different post.

So i met my awesomely amazing friend Sarah Reese and we embarked on our adventure with the sole scope of me experiencing as many american things as possible, and ultimately admit if i want to live there permanently or not.

One thing i am very happy about is that i met some truly awesome people and i'm glad i shared precious times with them! We went on a road trip and i had fireball and delicious food!!!! Yes, i will admit that i could live in the US permanently

Dimi x

Prom Night, 2013

I find that one thing Americans might find surprising is that over here in Europe, being raised in the American cutlure of Grease, American Graffiti and the rest of Highschool movieschick-flicks and/or boy meets girls sort of movie every single girl is dreaming of prom night! Some will not admit to it, but all wish there would come a night when girls would wear pretty dresses, the boys would give them a corsage, they would take a picture on their front porch and then proceed to the actual ball.

The popular kids would be the kings and queens and the other would aspire to the ugly duckling turned swan sort of thing. It's all magical untill you wake up and you're not in suburban America, but rather in a small neighborhoud in suburban Athens. 

And then someting changes. Just 8 years after my highschool graduation, i finally get to go to prom- and it's the best kind of prom : a 1950s prom, with the fluffy skirts and the pure romance, the kind where you seat in the corner and a boy asks you for a dance. So tonight is the night: The Rollin' Foxes Prom Night!

Click here for the event

Declan

photo by marietta of the double crochets

Meet Declan! He's been with me since the summer of 2011!! I got the fellow in Ireland, he's a true irish charm!He's always smiling and carries three glittery clovers for an extra dose of luck!

At the summer of 2011 i used to take him everywhere with me and take pics of him! I think i'm gonna do the same this year too, i wonder if his preferences for scenery have changed over the course of 2 years.

photo by marietta of the double crochets

"Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me"

Suddenly it's 2 years after

photo is from here:  http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/bucketspade/Recent

I had sort of an epiphany today.... I remembered what i was doing today exactly 2 years ago. Yes, two years ago: melancholy mode ON!

So today, i woke up bright and early, went to work for 12 hours, contemplated what the hell i was doing there and if i'm cut out to do this sort of work- i think i am. On top of that, adding a tiny dose of melancholy, i wondered where my expectations and aspirations went and as a result decided to take drastic measures in order to change whatever it is i dont like. Oh, for the 50th time in 2012 that is. 

So August 27, 2012 i am working a 12 hours shift, i teach children aged 4-6 english and I spent more than i can afford on clothes, music, alcohol and having fun  and i am still looking for someone special. I, ladies and gentlemen, am a 25 year old with issues. But lets face it, so are you. 

So on the 27 of August, 2010 I was living abroad, i was just about finishing my MA dissertation and i couldnt wait for the real life to begin. I worked on my research paper all day and then proceeded to go out with a guy i hardly liked whilst sending a small birthday message to the guy i actually liked. 

The main problem in 2012 is i think the lack a source of inspiration. In each chapter of our lives there is an element that fuels us with inspiration. Anybody has seen mine?It is either a person or your will to be with a certain special someone, a combination of both or you simply just enjoy what you are doing so much. Er, wait, or you dont think too much like i do. 

I guess my point is that life goes in circles. Everyone has their problems, we just need to find a way to sort them out without causing too much damage on ourselves.there is i thin only one way to do that: being ourselves and finding our talent it's the only thing we'll have forever, and maybe true love too if we find it. 

about relationships

A great deal of your time as an unemployed youth is spent in wall observation and thinking.If you are a girl, this empty wall stare can lead to seriously complicated and panick driven thoughts. Let's face it, as human beings we ae bound to consider our relationships with other human beings.  You slowly discover that you subconsiously put people into categories: people you like more and people you like less, and people who are indifferent to you and even people you feel closely attached to but are far away. Social relationships are not hard to categorize, if something, they are easy. The scale is the degree of closeness you have to the other person and you move along with your tags. 

But with romantic relationships it is a bit harder. I have concluded after extensive research and personal ...er....disappointment (?)  that the categorization must be done according to the most obvious characteristic of the person: a musician, the bipolar, the lacking-self-confidence, the one that thinks he can get you and plays it cool but when you dont care he goes crazy, the one in a relationship, the musician in a relationship, the one who wears briefs, the anarchist, the self obsessed, the virgin, the one whos waiting for love like in the movies, the younger than you and the list goes on and on and on. The truth is that we see this characteristic but we choose to ignore it. Always always, we ignore it.To be more accurate, we choose to ignore it.

It's not like we want to get ourselves in the situation of disappointment, it's more our need to experience strong feelings. I see what it's like to be swept of your feet by romance or to be anxious to receive that call. There is a hint of masochism in love, lets face it. The kind of maschism when we are starving ourselves before the big date, the 3day wait till we get in touch, the tremendous hours of wondering why he said this and not that and the list goes on. It's never nice if someone just stops talking to you, but in the long-term it's probably for the best. 

I suppose you need to get through a lot of stones till you find your diamond.

Dimi is at work

So after a long stay in unemployment Dimi has finally got a job. Byez pyjama lifestyle. You will be greatly missed though.

What makes you motivated to get out of bed in the morning and go to work??Because mines is a 11 hour shift on christmas eve and new years eve. It's as a shop assistant. I'm not digging it.



Apologies i can not credit this ^_^

I have not forgot my promise for upcoming post, they will be uploaded in due time.

In the meantime-and as i am writing this from the shop- i will just say that i havent forgot, and i'm in the middle of a special project (well for me at least) !

There are various things going through my head, mopst of them of a bittersweet feeling. There is a sense of melancholy in everything i do these days.... I cant say i dont like it, but i will get over it.

Though, i am grateful for the job, as it means money, and money means plans, it means San Diego i'll be there sooner than i thought!!!

Whats the reason?

It's been too long i havent updated this. Work is doing my head in, but hey, it's valentines day and i only have a date with a box of chocolates. 

chibird

So, over this period of absence i've been thinking about work and romance and life in general. It's just simply  amazing how we always hope for something but then life twists everything and gives us something else. In fact, not something else, something completely different. Then there are the theories that tell you, oh life gave you that for a reason. Do you ever get the feeling that you simply cant find the reason???? Even in the long-term??

And on valentines day, we are supposed to celebrate love. Consumerism aside, every one of us who is single is thinking how nice it would be to have someone to celebrate it with: every year. How can this day cause nostalgia and depression to so many people, yet so many people actually or willingly celebrate it? I dont see the reason there either. 

On a more personal note, and with no feeling of self-pitty,  i sometimes think that maybe not all people are meant to be with their special someone. Other times, i think maybe i'm too stupid to realize that person is that special someone. But when you know and who feel that a special individual would be everything you ever wanted, but it simply cant be???What do you do then?? You simply hope... and meanwhile you listen to music (avoid Adele) 

Whats the reason?I dont know, but i think that sometimes just once in a while.....

For no other reason than fairytales makes us happy! Because, all of us, wether we like it or not, we are all romantic fools, and thats what makes us awesome! 

Justi a quickie

Let's all take a moment and just consider this. Just because it is true. 

Groups

I tried to make it for a month without blogging.I failed. I also started another blog for a conference i am currently organizing. Oh Blogger how i love thee. 

The conference went really good! This year it was in Istanbul, next year i hope it will be in Athens!!! I've been involved into an student NGO promoting exchange programmes, non formal education, and above all students helping students. I've been involved since 2007, even before i went for my exchange abroad. In the last year i felt like i had lost my interest in the association- i felt like i always met the same sort of person and i have been having the same conversation over and over again. 

But this year was different. The participants were inspiring and excited to be there, or maybe i found my lost inspiration or should i say motivation. In any case it was a nice break from my boring jobless life. 

Being in a conference made me think about two things. First how people work in groups. Second, how people work in larger groups. The main question being, who is really comfortable in his own shoes?In a multi-diverse environment who is brave enough to be him/her self?? 

chibird.tumblr.com

There are the types of people described above, to which i would like to add, the person who tries to prove himself smarter than everybody else (smart-ass if you will) and another who does something but not everything and maintains a good relationship with everybody, the inspiration. I like people like that, i think they're cool! 

Then we need to consider how people act in larger groups. In larger groups, i think people try to fit a certain motive, and thus loose originality. I find that people with the lose of originality and differentiation gain a certain degree of self-esteem and confidence. It's sad, because i think people win people over if they are original, confident and have the guts to be different. Those people are inspirational. I love them. 

chibird.tumblr.com

Lets all be different together!!! And yes, i will be all pro confidence here. 

PS. Thank you chibird, i love your stuff! 

Coming soon on Dimisays : the pyjama lifestyle, multinationality and a tiny trip to Istanbul! 

Escapism

escapism (ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm) —noun

an inclination to or habit of retreating from unpleasant or

unacceptable reality, as through diversion or fantasy

This key is symbol to my pledge

Amidst the current economic crisis in Athens, Greece, where i am more than happy to reside, i find myself with the will or rather need to escape more often than not.  It is a hard situation we are facing, and it is worse that there is no sympathy from the EU. This puts me in a bubble of panic : What will tomorrow be like?

As a person, i can not complain and can not thank my parents enough for what they have offered me. But when i an equipped with all i need for life and life stops right in front of me- what am i supposed to do then? When it is not only our happiness that's in stake here, but our survival, what do we do then??

The greeks over the years have been through an array of difficult periods and thus produced this quote: "In order to survive poverty, you need to have a good time" You need to escape it and focus on brighter things.
Therefore, i would like to make a pledge to focus on brighter things and things that take away this feeling of panic, uncertainty and depression. There are more things to be glad about: health, life and people around you that love and inspire you.

For my nameday an awesome guy i know gave me the most awesome present for my celebration, and he's getting one back too. He gave me "the key" to open the door to my escape, i use it as a symbol of my pledge.

Where is your key?

Modern times

from here

Lately, i've been feeling like this.

My Friend Said...#3

Here's something my friend, a sweet, proper girl who goes to church said 

" Pray for Erections"

Because men have problems sometimes too. 

Girl Power

Nope it's not about Spice girls. In every girls life there comes a moment when we start doubting our potential, our strength and well everything. We might even think "why was i born a woman?!" . It happens, as shit happens. When life throws in a challenge, it is because you need to respond to it and grow out of it stronger. 

Therefore,

"When in doubt, consult Rosie the Riveter" 

Vintage Love and Inspirational moto

And also, it's nice to feel like a super hero from time to time. 

Artist Shira Sela here

Endnote: this post is dedicated to some very special ladies in my life that have inspired me in many ways and consistantly never fail to do so. Thank you gals!

Things that Make me Happy

WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY???

Inspired by the lists i read on the rockstar diaries I give you my list of what makes me happy this week! What makes you happy this week??

Recreational Activities

Just in case you didn't know i love doing thing for no purpose, just for the laughs. I refer to such things as "recreational activities".

Since things have gone viral, the internet is full of these things. Batman-ing and plunking come to mind. I was introduced to the world of planking when i read an article on the Guardian- i instantly knew i had to try it. I was hooked! I find it exceptionally relieving doing things for no reason... It reminds me of the good days as a child when you had no responsibilities and you could just play all day. It gives you that feeling as you get some moments of doing nothing!

So planking i did.

Exhibit A: Group plank at a rock n roll summer party in Aegina








Exhibit B: I planked the next day at the beach, on top of a car nonetheless!






Exhibit C: I even planked after i said goodbye to my great friend Sandy, who went to France to study psychology and eat les croissants! It helped loose the sadness

All 3 photos by Marietta Fameli of doublecrochets

I like planking and i cant hide it. I even dared my boss to plank one day. Needless to say i have of course planked at work. Anyway, so i was thinking how brilliant it is, not just planking, but doing things for fun. It's even better when you see people from all around the world do it. (google planking) 

But then I realized, I always use to do it- i just didnt share the pics with anyone. Yes, i was shy back then! I would like to introduce to you, the good old days of me doing a variation of planking. I give you President-ing or as my friend called it Evita Peron-ing. 

The act of president-ing is fairly simple. Follow these instructions : 

1.You go to a place like a balcony or where you have a comparative advantage of height and ... 

2.Pretend you are saluting millions of people who came to see you and smile whilst your friend takes your pic. 

Photos by Vassilis Tsikalakis

The story behind this is simple. I used to act as a President for a non-governmental association of my university. My friend Bill acted as treasurer at the time and both of us are a bit mental. One day (the day the first pic was shot, 2008 or 2009) we were on an excursion at Nafplio and when we reached to top of the castle we noticed all of the association members where gathered underneath. So Bill kindly suggested i wave hello at my "followers" and so i did. Ever since, every single time we go on a trip with Bill, we take a picture like that (second pic from this past weekend at the island of Mykonos). 

So i wonder, have you ever done something like this?Whats your recreational activity?? And yes, if you attempt this i want to see your pics!!