Happy Passover

Happy Passover to everyone who celebrates!

We just had The Dinner. I can't call it Seder because we didn't follow any of the rules. But my Mom made the Gefilte fish and something called "floimen tsimes" and other stuff, and it was wonderful. Dad asked before dinner whether he should "put the bread together with the matza". That shows you how religious or even observant we are.

I took pictures of my outfits yesterday and today - and I don't think they are post-worthy. They were, as some bloggers call it, "Meh". But I had a sweet necklace on today, so I'll take a pic of it tomorrow and show you.

Kid's been sick for a couple of days, stuffy nose and hacking cough. I had to break out the syrup and the inhalation machine again. He had fever for one day only, but he's generally weak and his breathing is so raspy that it scares me. I guess it can explain the lack of dressing inspiration for me. Hope he's OK by Thursday because we're planning to go riding together, just me, him and his instructor.

Good news, today I took my last steroid pill (or rather quarter of it)! And even had some wine at dinner. Now I just have to wait for my cheeks and underchin to deflate, and maybe the waistline will follow. I gained a couple of kg and I blame it on steroids! (Love of butter has nothing to do with it, people!)

And why is it that I can't see anybody's pictures on their blogs?? What is it, Pessah special?

Quartet in Context

I've had a really lazy weekend. Horseriding got cancelled because of the rain. I cooked one lazy dinner and baked a really lazy cake. That's it. Plus Summer Savings Time finally happened in Israel, and we got all confused. Somehow even the dog slept in today for which I'm eternally grateful.

The weekend was spent in comfy clothing, not worthy of photography. But on Thursday night my Mom and I went to the theater. We saw the first production of a Russian theater "Context" from Ashdod, "Quartet" is a play by Ron Harwood about ageing opera singers. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much! Brilliant acting, great atmosphere. One thing I noticed, the audience was predominantly elderly. I saw one really young girl (maybe 19), couple of women my age and the rest were pretty much pensioners. The fate of immigrants' culture I guess.

So I got a chance to wear my favorite zippered dress. I love it to bits but don't get to wear it much. Cost per wear so far has been astronomical. Who cares.

Turned out that my light grey coat is just the right length for the dress. Pardon the fuzzy picture.

Just added black Nine West oxfords with the brass thingies that go with the zippers, a muted gold bag, a large ring and plain gold hoops, and I was good to go. Fat birdie had to stay home.

A close up of the bag, the ring and my MAC Rich, dark, delicious nail polish.

The bag is by Kathy Van Zeeland, so naturally it has a huge crown logo on the pocket. I just wear it with the crown facing my body, so nobody can see it. It's too much.

Next week is Passover. I get to work less than usual and get paid normal. Gotta love the holidays.

Hot Chili Peppers

I blowdried my hair today. Then I tried to take a close-up picture to show you, but all of them came out awful. So I took this photo from a distance. Pardon the broom and dustpan in the background, I forgot about them.

Just jeans and a t-shirt today. I did some grocery shopping and visited my friend's shop. Had a nice chat. These jeans are grey, I don't know why they look blue in this photo.

Last night I cooked a nice chili con carne. It's one of my favorite dishes. I think we all have some dishes that we cook when we don't know what to cook. Am I right? For me it's an Indian curry (Bombay curry with coconut milk or Madras curry without), spag bog (that's bolognese) and chili. All of them spicy hot.

Here is the pot of chili on the stove. In the beginning I used to follow the recipe quite religiously, but with the years started to improvise and substitute what I don't have with what's available. Of course, some things you just can't do without. Then you send your husband to the store. I'm busy cooking for you, darling! Off you go!

It was so hard finding chili powder here!!! I tried to get it online but US sites selling tex-mex spices didn't want to ship to Israel. So when I found it in a small supermarket (I'm sure it was there by accident), I bought 5 jars! It's better to have expired and slightly stale chili powder than nothing at all.

Some spices are just not available here. My lovely cousin is coming to visit from Paris in about 3 weeks. So what do I ask her to bring? Cayenne pepper, bouquet garni and herbes de Provence! And nothing from Sephora which we don't have here either :(

Talking about cayenne and chili - have you seen the movie The Mistress of Spices with Ayshwarya Rai? Isn't she exquisitely beautiful?

Financials

Such an exciting day! First I had to go to the bank and after that pleasant experience I drove to the income tax place and sorted out my income tax coordination?? It's when you have more than one job and they decide how much you can earn before they rob you blind. If I'm calling it wrong, somebody please tell me the correct term. I do this every year and it usually takes a couple of hours waiting in line. But this year I showed up in March instead of January and guess what! It pays to be late! Took me about 20 minutes. Thank you, tax people!

This is what I wore to work yesterday. Nothing interesting, plus I went matchy-matchy with the shoes, bag (forgot to take a picture) and the pashmina.


The shoes were the best part of the outfit. All the rest got wrinkled really fast. Including my hair. I'm not really happy with the way it's looking now. But I'll have to suffer and wait for it to grow longer, then I'll see what can be done. Here are the shoes.

And this is my fave citrine ring. I love it to bits. And a strange reflection in my Particuliere covered nail...

That was yesterday. Today I parked at the mall in order to go to the tax people. Of course, I couldn't just come back to the car and drive off home. I had to do a mall-sweep. I exercised restraint and only bought one thing from Zara. Can you tell that I like horses?

It's like that dress with a huge gorilla face on it, only looser, cheaper and the picture is not 3D. A totally different dress, I mean. Look what's on the back of the dress. A bigger horse.

I looked at some ballet flats as well, but to my bank account's delight I didn't find any that I absolutely loved. The search continues...

Back to Work

So, went to work today. Here I am, back on the kiddie table, posing. True to myself, dressed all in black. Felt "safer" this way.

Salad of accessories - big ass flower ring, Eiffel tower pendant, zebra bracelet and faux pearl earrings that I bought in Vancouver some time around 1995. I forgot I had them and some time ago found them along with another pair.

Here is a close-up of my fat steroids cheeks. 2 weeks left!!! 10 mg and then 5 mg and then I'm done!

You can see my Particuliere nail polish here.

But here is a bigger picture, with the ring. I love this color. Girls at work loved it too.

Ever since I got sick I haven't worn any of my heels. In the beginning it was fever, then half-blindedness, I was afraid to fall over. And now I just have to get used to heels all over again. Two and a half months in flats... These Michael Kors flats are my favorites!

On a slightly more personal note I decided to show you another piece of my balcony. This is where I can sit and contemplate my lemon tree. The table cloth reminds me of a Paris cafe.

This Paris cafe, for some reason. Even though they did not have any table cloths. Don't laugh, it's my memory! It was a beautiful day, I sat there, just like the girl with the scarf. It's not far from the Bastille metro station. See that building in the background? Hang on, I'll find the close-up.

See the blanket in the window? There was a "femme de menage" cleaning that apartment. The weather was beautiful, birds were chirping... OK, where was I?

And here is the view from my balcony. Talk about contrast! Sorry to shock you like that. After a Paris cafe-scene you are looking at the most un-glamorous and un-charming town in Israel. This is to the left...

And this is to the right.

Pretty much the main street of the town. Cross it, walk for 2 minutes (slowly) and you will hit the fields. Where I go with the dog. I grew up in St.Petersburg which in them days had 6 million people. But now, if I go to a city like Tel Aviv, with problem parking and lots of people, and then I come back here, I feel at home and breath a sigh of relief. But I would go live in Paris in a heartbeat.

Spring Ramblings

The winter is over and I'm a bit sad. First of all, I missed pretty much all of it and didn't get to wear what I wanted to wear. Dresses, coats, jackets. I know, it's not the most important thing in the world, but over here summer lasts 8-9 months, when you're too hot to wear anything, and the poor winter is stuck in the corner. Plus this year the weather was really warm. Is the global warming catching up with us? I personally don't believe in this hype, but who knows.

Anyway, to mark the beginning of spring, I painted my nails pink. Here is a picture. Pardon some tip wear, but this photo was taken almost a week after I painted them, and that's without any top coats!


Next on my list would be to wear Chanel Particuliere. Oh yes, I have joined the exclusive club. The color of wet cement, as Faux Fuchsia so eloquently put it, awaits me. The husband, being a builder, is excited for me too (not).

I've ordered some more pink nailpolishes on ebay. For some reason it was easier for me to look at OPI colors, read their names and pick out some fab colors than actually buying what's available here. I went to a shop, stood by the shelf with hundreds of colors and couldn't pick ANYTHING! What's wrong with me?

Sunday I'm going back to the Office. And it's good, because I'm getting cabin fever. Starting April 21, I'll be working 4 days a week instead of 2. It's good too, because my second job has dried up a bit. This girl needs to make some more money stat!

I'm leaving you with a photo of my beloved lemon tree. It's actually bearing fruit! These lemons are so fragrant, if you cut one up and put it in the fridge, the smell envelopes you as soon as you open it. Mind you, I must not open the fridge so much, I've gained some weight and I blame the steroids!!! (Not getting off my lazy ass to exercise is not the reason, though I went back to horseriding, so there).

Here is my baby-lemon.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

New Blogs and a Fabulous Giveaway

While I was "off sick" I was trying to desensitize my eyes and get them used to the computer screen by reading my favourite blogs. I'd like to thank everyone who left comments and worried about me. It meant so much to me! Sher at Fashion After Forty, Sheila Ephemera, Wendy B, Style Artisan - thank you ladies!

I found some wonderful new blogs to read as well. One of them is Faux Fuchsia who inspired me to dig out my pink nail polish and welcome the spring. This lady knows how to wear a dress... sorry, frock! Her blog is only 3 months old, it will be interesting to see what she's going to wear in the winter (FF blog lives in Australia).

Another blog is My Edit . This is a serious vintage lover, people. Go check out her outfits. And the photos background is so cool.


This new blog I discovered is having a fab giveaway. It's Hostess of the Humble Bungalow and the giveaway is this beautiful vintage scarf:

Visit the Hostess and her blog. She is a cat lover too.

By the way, about cats and cat scratch disease. Noone knows whether I got it from Snooker or some other kitten (it's mostly spread by kittens). And one more thing - the same cat can scratch several people, some will get sick and the others won't. Anyway, I'm immune now. All my cats are safe at home (and they are still fighting). Snooker got the Big Snip two weeks ago. Now I'm waiting for him to get fat.

I'm Back-ish

Yes, I'm slowly creeping back into the blogosphere. My eyesight is not back to 100% yet but it's getting there. Still have a blind spot but it's semi-transparent. I'm back to driving (finally!) and next week I'm going back to work at the office. I've also been working at home (the second job).

So what was wrong with me? The doctors have finally figured it out. A simple blood test sent to a special lab revealed my mysterious illness. CAT SCRATCH DISEASE! Which hits your eyes apparently which is called Neuroretinitis... blah-blah-blah. This stuff is normally treated with antibiotics, but by the time we got the answer from the lab I was already cured. I'm still on steroids till the end of the month, reducing the dosage every 5 days. I marked it on my calendar that March 29th I'm taking the last 5 mg.

And then I can have a drink!

People that haven't seen me in a month or so can tell right away that I'm on steroids. Fat cheeks. Can't wait to get rid of them!