I have got a problem. My problem is twofold. The fist part of my problem is that I am obnoxious, therefore things that should not really annoy me, do. Like things that make everybody else happy.
The second part of my problem is with the word “nesting”. I dislike this word unless it concerns birds.
But I have to go back to the first part of my problem, the obnoxiousness. It’s not that I do not like the trend of going back to the hearth, back to the small things. I do and I think it is necessary. To me it is necessary to start making things instead of buying all the time, and it is time for the Home Arts to reclaim their prestigious place. I admire homemakers and I consider myself an apprentice in the homemaking science.
But it bugs me that people can easily be enclosed in that and be consumed by that. I like my little world because it is a part of the big world. I wouldn’t like it if it was just made of handmade cards and apple pies.
I understand why it is so. Everything else is so ugly; the credit crunch, the environment, the war. The home is a comfort. Having a nice cupboard with your dotted pink cups and jugs is so comforting. You stare at them in the morning and your world feels intact. But it isn’t of course. There is still a war raging in spite of the pretty shabby chic cupboard, and you still make less money than you need to get by and you still don’t feel safe out on the streets.
I don’t have a solution to offer, just a comment at this point. I have just made it to this step and I have not gone one step further yet. It is a waste to be constantly looking at the big picture and not be touched by the tiny things that make us human, but I think it is wrong to be endlessly looking at the small picture too.
But as I said, a big part of this is because I am obnoxious, and too much joy and giggling over felt animals annoys me.  Because if I wasn’t, I’d have reached a conclusion as to what we should be doing instead. It’s just a feeling now. So there.

You like?

1. Match things up: Shoes, belts, dresses, sunglasses. Save your sets (see both of mine above) and even see where you can buy all the things you included. Cry bitter tears when the nice shoes you chose are Christian Louboutin (see orange shoes above) and cost a gazillion euros. More fun and  things you cannot buy at Polyvore.

2. Mygazines: Read magazines online. All magazines, page by page. Actually you can skip ads. I am now reading Country Living and there is a stack of Elle Deco I have to go through.

3. Most Interesting bookshops in the world. Daydream or plan a trip. I am definitely visiting the Selexyz Bookstore in Maastricht. There is also a link to interesting libraries.

4. What should you read next? Let this site decide for you. Just tell it what you just read and it’ll find a nice new book to fall asleep to.

If these do not seem enough to make you stop working, you can always upload your picture in the Hairstyler and find your next haircut. Or even worse, try Rihanna’s hair on your head.

Or  you could just call in sick.

P.S If you have creative procrastination suggestions don’t be mean, share them with me.

True Love: I am lucky in that my friends share my -justified, normal and expected- interest in placing magazines in straight lines as well as making sure cans are lined up with their labels facing the front and cup handles facing one direction in the cupboard. It is so relaxing.

No postcards whatsoever. In the mini market that catered for the little seaside settlement where we stayed, there was just one kind of postcard, picturing a naked lady who was sunbathing. Her breasts were made to look like mountain peaks and behind them the sun was setting. So I sent you no postcards from Halkidiki, although I had all your addresses with me.

This was a tiny place with just a few houses and we brought back most of our clothes untouched. I didn’t put any makeup on for days. So, I was thinking, when do I plan to let myself go? I mean appearance-wise. I look forward to the day when I will not feel that I have to comb my hair anymore and will be able to buy the newspaper in my slippers. Maybe I will not really let myself go, just be more eccentric, so that people will think of me as the crazy lady down the road with the butterfly sunglasses.
And I am going to wear flowery shawls like Frida Kahlo and sparkly flat shoes and carry a beaded purse all at the same time, and be rude to taxi drivers and eat as much chocolate as I like.

When do you plan to let yourself go and how will you celebrate your rebellion?

I don’t take my irresponsibility pledge lightly. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but I like to get things right, or in this case, wrong.
So today, I didn’t make the phone calls I should have made and I spent an hour reading a website I just found and instantly fell in love with. Also, I woke up at 7 and at 8 I went back to bed and re-woke at 10.
Tomorrow I am going to buy a bottle of tequila to make margaritas at home. I intend to spend at least 2 days a week in a margarita-haze.

I feel that everyone around me is growing up fast and this is my ineffectual and unconvincing way to slow down. People fill their days with important activities and go through their checklists and tick things off. I do that too, sometimes, just not now. Not now.

Being grown up is hard. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of conversation topics I hear around me, at work, on the bus, in the park:

-What’s for dinner: All the different dinner possibilities that a piece of meat/vegetable presents are discussed to eternity.
-He said/She said/He said
-The weather. It’s not an English monopoly anymore.
-What to do on Saturday night. This club, that restaurant.
-Reality shows. Who’s expelled, who made a fool of themselves.
-Murders, thefts, scandals in the news.

In addition, people usually engage in parallel talk and not in interactive conversation. This means that they talk in turns without addressing what the other one is saying. They just pick up where they left off when it was the other person’s turn to talk.
All this is too stressful to me. Drivel takes up lots of memory cells. I cannot function. I feel like an extra terrestrial. I need to be surrounded by interesting people who make me laugh. I will make them laugh in return.

All greek mums think their sons can walk on water,  but mine really does

My question is: How can I look like I have everything under control, while being totally irresponsible and reckless? This is my goal for the summer. I have asked Stephanie, but I need as many ideas as possible. Please discuss. It must be the annual regression to childhood, or maybe it is more permanent. Have you ever had it? Is there a vaccine against it?

And here’ s a dialogue I heard on the bus the other day, and I took everything down to tell you too. It is between two boys, around 13 or 14 years old. They are leaning baaaaaack in their seats with hair covering their eyes. You just want to give them a hug and 10 Euros to buy some orange juice and a sandwich.

Boy A : You know what’ll do the trick?

Boy B: Wha?

Boy A: Work for a few years and save 150.000 Euros. Then go live in a third world country where you’ll be treated as a millionaire.

Boy B: Cool. How much is coffee in Zimbambwe?

I’d like to thank you for you emails concerning the earthquake here.  It happened far from Athens but it was strongly felt here too. This time I did not even leave the sofa.

My friend left. I was upset. Hence, I bought too many things.

Finally, this blog now serves another purpose too (let’s pretend it used to serve at least one other purpose before). My friend Blondie went to London for 3 months, and after that she is not really coming back to Athens, so I will try to keep her updated through Froth. Not too much however, because you don’t want to make it too easy.

James McAvoy

I could post a poem but I decided to post James McAvoy’s face instead. Somebody clone this man please and keep the accent too.