Why I didn't post for 2 weeks

Looks like I've missed 2 weeks of blogging. Awful. Let's see, first my cousin came to visit from Paris. We hang out, not as much as I would wanted but she stayed with her folks and it's an hour drive. But we managed. There was lots of food involved, like smelly French cheeses. I'll post some pictures when she sends them to me.

Another excuse - I've gained about 4 kg and nothing fits. I blame it on steroids (again). All my jeans are too tight except for the horse-riding ones. I feel so heavy and bloated and I don't know what to wear.

And my final excuse - the computer died. I'm on work computer now. That's why there are no photos. Yet.

By the way, did you see the new necklace by Faux Fuchsia and Red Phoenix Emporium? I think it's gorgeous.

White birds, black snakes

Kid and I had a very busy weekend. After visiting family on Friday (Paris cousin, hi!!!), we had a full day on Saturday. First he was invited to a classmate's birthday party in a park where I managed to take a picture of this gorgeous guy:

I've never seen albino peacocks before. He had a white girlfriend too. Boy, were they loud!

And Saturday evening we went to the cat theater. It's from Moscow, they are quite famous. Founded in 1990 by Yuri Kuklachev who basically proved that cats can be "trained". But he doesn't really train them. He watches them and sees what each cat is capable of, what it likes to do. Now Yuri's son Dimitri continues the tradition. It's a clown show with cats doing all kinds of tricks, it's really sweet and fun to watch. We go see them everytime they come to Israel.

It was back to work on Sunday, with the usual elevator shot. New camera does a much better job than my cellphone. I'm in focus again!


Glam shot in the supermarket just to show you that I was matchy-matchy. The shoes somehow matched the t-shirt.

And now I would like to introduce the new member of my huge rings collection (the collection is not huge but the rings are). Meet Da Snake.

This was an impulse buy. As soon as this little guy got onto my finger, he just didn't want to go away. Does it ever happen to you?

Da Snake looked good with my Red Phoenix necklace. I love this necklace! You can wear it so many different ways. Today I hid the camelia under my hair. It's like having a new necklace every time.

How do you like this volcano cloud? My cousin managed to slip under it just in time. Now she is worried about going back home. Hopefully the cloud will be gone soon. My other friend has to fly to St. Petersburg Russia today, she went to the airport not knowing for sure what's going to happen.

Blue roses

Let me start the day with the news.

Dog doesn't look too happy. Probably annoyed that our PM didn't attend the summit...

And now for something completely different.
Here is a t-shirt I got for my birthday. Love the color.

Of course, I had to find matching accessories. Synthetic opals, very fashionable in Israel about 10 years ago. I have a matching necklace and 3 pairs of earrings too!

The sleeves are cute too.

After work we went to the ranch, Kid had a lesson and I had a smooch-session with the horses. I bring them a bag of carrots or apples everytime I go there. As soon as they see me they perk up. They probably think that Carrot is my middle name.

Here I am with Jojo.

And this is Blondie. He is my horse, we meet every Friday. I keep apologizing to him for gaining some weight.

The black dog's name is Socks, she loves carrots too. All the dogs at the ranch who didn't like carrots before love them now. I guess I spoiled them all.

It was really windy hence my Conan hair. Blondie looks much more put together. He's really sweet. Mind you, there were two of them in there and when the other horse tried to come in for a scratch, Blondie chased him away. This horse is always ready for a hug, he puts his head on your shoulder and freezes.

OK I'll stop now.

.44 Magnum

This is how Mr. Tanya called me yesterday. My .44 Magnum. Because yesterday I turned 44. So strange. I often read in Russian novels: "middle aged woman in her late thirties" and so on. But I don't feel middle-aged (and what is middle-aged anyway?).

Mind you, after such a crazy day I had at work, anybody can age in minutes. Non-stop phone calls can do this to you. Plus hot dry wind, humidity below 50 (we're used to 70) and sand in the air, everything was yellow. But we had a nice evening at home and celebrated with my parents.

Here you can see what my hubby gave me. Sometime ago I told him that I'd like a new camera and gave him some options. I showed him what the other bloggers use. And received this cute pink Canon IXUS 95 IS. I love it.

This is my "particuliere" dress, because it matches the nail polish. Even more than on the photo. And my fingers are red for some reason. Must be the fluorescent lighting. Yuck.

This is my balcony again. Boomer is yawning, he's bored. See the dusty air? People with asthma were advised not to go outside.

Another look at the necklace... And what is that white dot on my eye?

No Russian celebration is complete without caviar. And for my husband it's not a meal without Tabasco sauce. Here they are together, and Tabasco is extra hot!

While I was going nuts at work, my Mom cooked wonderful spaghetti sauce.
And these lovely roses were from my son.

I haven't worn the other gifts yet (clothes of course). That's later.

Give a Dog a Hammer...

I had to go for my hospital eye check-up today. It usually involves 3 - 4 hours of sitting and waiting. First you wait to receive eye-drops, then you wait for the specialist to actually see you and tell you to come back in another month.

So I wore my new skinny jeans. Took a lot of pictures in the mirror and this is what I came up with. I really need to work on my poses. Because I swear, in real life this outfit looked much better!!!


A close-up of the cyclops in the blouse...

After I returned home I changed the top, putting on my Zara "tattoo" t-shirt with a tail. And some loafers.

My summer bag, all golden and sparkly.

With pucci-esque lining (don't look at the label).

My parents bought a small table today. It came in a flatpack. This is my Dad putting it together.

Naturally, Snooker had to come and help.

Then Boomer had to come and help.

So three of them worked together for some time...

And then the boys sent Dad away and finished the job on their own.

End of story :)

Skinny wannabee

Guess what was the "centerpiece" of my outfit today?

You're right, the Coco necklace again. This time I wore it with a white twinset/black detail. Matchy-matchy. But I wore red shoes! You can't see them of course.

Here is another crooked picture, I was trying to capture the necklace. Am I obsessed?

I used to take my photos in the elevator with my previous Nokia phone-camera and it worked really well. But now, with Sony-Eriksson, I can't do it anymore. It fusses too much, auto-focus is a real pain. I still have the Nokia but the phone part of it is not working, and I'm not going to carry two phones with me just to photograph myself in the elevator, for Pete's sake!

Here is the blurry elevator pic. Black pencil skirt, as you can see. It's a bit tight right now, I really need to do something about it!

I wore my old ring today. The stone is opalite. The internet says that it's also moonstone but I don't think it is. I haven't worn it for a long time but today it fit just right.

We have a fashion-chain here called Crazy Line (or should I say "Fashion House"?) They make clothes for real women. I don't like all of their stuff, but at the same time I have a lot of Crazy clothes in my wardrobe. What do I mean when I say "real women"? In my slightly slimmer days their size Small was a bit roomy on me. Not anymore.

Anyway, they sent me their new catalog and what do I see? Skinny jeans! Now, I'm one of those women that look like an ice-cream cone in skinnies, including ample muffin-top, thanks to the super-low-rise style. And my thighs look like sausages to me. But I was curious and went to the shop anyway on my lunch-break.

These lunch-breaks will kill me, I either overeat or shop!

I tried them on and... bought them. The rise is normal, the pant-legs are slim but not sausage-tight. And the price was OK plus I got the membership-discount.

Here is a photo from their website www.crazyline.co.il:

The model is tall and skinny, of course. I can never look like that. My legs lack at least half a meter to be that long! But I can wear the jeans with longer tops and tunics instead of leggings, which is way more forgiving. I think. And Lord knows, I have enough high heels to pull off something similar. I'm planning to wear them tomorrow and I'll take some pics.

The Coco Necklace

Finally, the day when I wore my Coco necklace for the first time. I ordered it from the Red Phoenix Emporium and it arrived within 10 days. That's faster than ebay stuff from the US!
Here it is (forgive the fuzzy cell-phone picture).



I've been going through my wardrobe, trying to figure out how to wear the necklace, and then I decided not to complicate my life. Because ideally I'd have to replace everything. Like today on my lunch-break I wondered through the shops at the mall looking for tops and dresses of good fabrics. But what did I see? Lots of t-shirt fabrics and button-down cotton things. This is what's available. No silk, no decent chiffon (some chiffon but cheap looking). It's OK for the hot sweltering days, but come on!

Anyway, today I paired the necklace with an OK-quality stretchy top and black pants.

I didn't take a full length photo just because today was all about the necklace. I'm in love!

Lights on

Today was the last day of Passover holidays. Back to work tomorrow. We were home today. Thought about driving to the beach (not for swimming, just for wandering about), but my guys refused to move.

I fussed about with the balcony some more and this is what I came up with. Took two old candles and stuck them into the wire-net covering the lemon-tree pot (the net is there to prevent my older kitty from digging and doing the dirty stuff. That's how she killed two plants already). In the daytime it looks kinda naff but in the dark, when you light them, it looks OK.

And here is a shot of the table with some more candles. Yes, I like candles, can you tell?

Tried to photograph it with flash on but it doesn't look right. Even the flowers are purple instead of pink.

See that wine glass? There's wine in it! Even though the steroids are not quite washed out of me yet, I can allow myself a drinkie now and then. I'm rehearsing for my birthday next week.

Passover flowers

A week went by and I didn't write a single post... Not good. Every night I was going to do it and then promptly fell asleep on the couch. Over and over again. Spring sleepiness, that's what it is.

To recap last week, the outfit I liked best was this dark green twinset which is almost 11 years old (I bought it when Jack was a baby). It still looks good and fits well which is a surprise - the twinset hasn't changed but my body has. I wore it with my wide-leg jeans and black pointy-toed mules. I'm stuck when it comes to choosing shoes to wear with these jeans, I always come back to these mules. Here is a photo. Any ideas?

I put on my faux pearls - necklace, earrings and ring. All of them were SUPER cheap. The ring was the most expensive item - about 12 bucks.

I don't know what I'm looking at. There is nothing on that wall except a clock.

The nail polish here is MAC "Rich, dark, delicious". MAC makes the best nail polish in my opinion. It dries in seconds, you can wash dishes almost right away, and it stays and stays forever. Love it and recommend it.

Finally, a photo of the necklace I got last week, silver and black, paired with a big-ass ring. I haven't worn the second necklace, so no pictures yet.

I wanted to get some flowers for the house for a while now, but then I kept imagining my vases flying off the tables following the routine cat-fight. That kept me from going to the store. But today the love of flowers won and this is what I got.

Lovely roses in a transparent Ikea vase.

Carnations in a jug. I love jugs. When we lived in Corfu I acquired a small collection of jugs. I don't really have any place to display them, so I rotate them as vases. This is my strawberry jug. And a berry candle from Ikea. (They opened an Ikea in my area, 20 min drive. Expect to see more and more Ikea stuff as we go along).

The last arrangement. Blue vase with orange flowers. It lives in the bathroom. I managed to snap a picture before Snooker had a go at it. He stole a twig of baby's breath and wrestled it, leaving little flower bits on the bathroom rug.

I've been trying to photograph my cats for the side-bar (Boomer's picture is already there, he loves to pose). No such luck. I should have taken a pic of Snooker as he slapped the lit berry candle, splashing red wax all over the table and himself. Pink-spotted cat. He spent 20 min cleaning himself. Dum-dum.

Oh, I just have to share the news. A copy-cat that I am, I ordered the Coco necklace from Red Phoenix Emporium after seeing Faux Fuchsia wear it over and over, and it's finally here! It's just as beautiful as I expected and I can't wait to wear it. This week I haven't left the "village" and I didn't want to wear it to the fields walking Boomer. But when I go back to work I'll be able to be real Visionary, Challenging the Paradigm and Channelling FF ( nonsensical fashion words borrowed from FF's blog).

Right, I'm off to paint my nails now.

Added later:

I finally opened my new OPI nail polish and I must say that OPI is just as good as MAC, only the price is much better. It dried just as quickly, we'll see how long it holds, but so far I'm sold. And the color range is much-much wider. I love it.