peony

Image via here

I have mentioned it before, and I will say it again; one of the things I truly miss since living in the Caribbean (I should improve my garden) is going to wonderful flower shops, filled with sweet scents, ranges of flowers and abundence of colour to buy an absurd amount of flowers to fill my house with. To wake up in the mornings and see, in full bloom, the most delightful and unique flowers that can only make you smile.

So, if you live near one of these splendid boutique flower-shops, brighten up your day and spoil yourself (and your home) with some truly amazing flowers (or better yet, buy them for someone and brighten up their day).

one memorable day

Image from here

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been. Pause, you who read this, and think for a long moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorn or flowers that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link of that memorable day"
- Charles Dickens-
Great Expectations

pamper yourself

Image via the Simply Luxurious Life

Some weekends are made for pampering, for continuous loveliness and for flowers.
I have realized that somehow I lost these laid-back weekends. That between work, study, wonderful lunches, errands and inevitable laundry, time simply did not stand still long enough for a little self indulgence.
Thus, this month I think I will make a little extra effort to schedule a massage, a pedicure, a haircut and maybe even a long lazy afternoon.


baalbek

Image via National Geographic

In anticipation of my wonderful trip to the Middle East, here is the first of many photographs that inspire this trip. (Not much inspiration needed, I am already extremely excited that I will see my cousins and their families, experience new places and eat great food).

hello monday


Photo from own collection 
Keukenhof, Netherlands


"A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.  Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.  Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give"  -Author Unknown-