London SNOW

image via my Tumblr

image via Super Mega Action Plus

Yesterday evening when I looked out of my window I almost couldn't believe my eyes - everything suddenly turned white all around and little snow flakes were peacefully landing on the balcony. It's the first snow in London this winter. The lawn in front of our building is now full of people having fun in the snow :).

Yesterday it was magic and today it started to melt away, so I am pretty comfy here watching this from the inside of my warm flat with a cup of hot liquid in my hand.

It's going to be -30 this week at home - now that is a real adventure. Oh, and it reminded me of this - still very funny! :)

The Nutcracker

We went to see The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker last week. The ballet is truly like a winter fairy tale - with lots of snow and magic. The decorations were created taking into consideration the play of light and shadow and they change very dynamically during the performance - which really makes it a very special experience.

Here is my favourite moment from the ballet - after the clock strikes midnight magic happens and everything is moving. I was amazed at how quickly things changed on the stage. You could see the Christmas tree increase 3 times in size - and that all just happened out of the blue without any visible human help.



Obviously the music was incredible too. Almost every piece of the ballet was very familiar and hence it felt so beautifully comfortable to be the lucky viewer of this performance. Here are some pictures from the theatre, unfortunately we couldn't shoot during the performance:






photos by Olga and Arek except for the top one

... Missing Winter

I never thought I would actually say this... But, I miss Eastern Europe's proper cold and snowy winters... 'Proper' as winters from my childhood - with lots of crisp snow, -20 and lots of sun and glitter all around. It almost seems these days that those winters were a fairy tale made up by my imagination. I guess I miss winter so much because this wasn't a particular snowy Christmas in most parts of Europe - apart of course from the countries where it usually snows (like Bulgaria ;)).. and our last winter was very short too and mostly tropical - as we spent most of it in India. And here in London one does not even feel cold and doesn't need any proper winter clothes - I could literally survive walking in my ballerinas and a raincoat all winter long. And... you might not believe it, but the trees are in bloom here now - I can see one right in front of my window...

So I am giving up and posting this couple of snowy pictures from 2 years back from Belarus where I very much wish I could be right now enjoying some sun and snow. Hope you would enjoy them too :). Have a good winter!








photos by Olga

Favourite Day of The Year

Happy 2012, everyone! Do not let your dreams be dreams!
I wish you lots of LOVE - beautiful and simple!






photos from Tumblr

¤ ¤ ¤ З Калядами! ¤ Merry Christmas! ¤ С наступающим! ¤ Wesołych Świąt! ¤ God Jul! ¤ Feliz Navidad! ¤ ¤ ¤

Have a happy, warm and cosy Christmas with your friends and family! Wouldn't you agree it is a good time to actually follow a couple of family traditions, cook something really really good and spend some time just lazing around in your pyjamas, having winter style coffees, watching movies or just reading beside your Christmas tree. Make some time for that. Have good fun!














photos by Arek

Winter DeLIGHT

Moving on from somewhat depressive thoughts most probably brought out by winter... Winter is a tricky season, isn't it? You can love it and hate it just as much - and it's such a short way from one to another.

For me winter started late this year. I think I have already mentioned that I missed it in a way. I love spending winter weekends at home doing nothing (nothing useful anyway) relishing the beauty and the cosiness of the season ...

Ladies and gentlemen, isn't winter something to indulge and savour?















images via emmy linnea

P.S. Not to worry, I will soon be back posting about summer again - to share some photos from Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Coming Backs... Comings Back

Image source unknown

Lights, snow, velvet,
memories, friends, gifts
gold and snowflakes.

Night, seduction, desire,
open fires, glitters,
hopes and lace.

Candles, laughter, frost,
bows, mistletoe, cinnamon,
satin and frosty windows.

It’s winter straight after summer,
sleepy cosiness and
strangeness of coming back...

Happy Christmas!

I haven't been in a very Christmas mood recently to be honest - that is mainly for two reasons - the political situation in my home country and the recent human rights infringements I can't stop thinking about... plus celebrating Christmas with +25 in India where this tradition is not big at all doesn't make the time too special...

I still wouldn't like the tradition and the meaning of Christmas to fade away from this blog and am sure it is actually all of us who make this holiday so special... I hope you are all having a very special time either with your family or on your own - have very happy holidays and a peaceful time to reflect on the year 2010!

...zzzzZZZZ...

Image by Olga

sleeping too much these days and at the same time can't get enough sleep... it's always like that in feb-march.. have started to mix dreams with reality... winters definitely too long in this part of the world..

HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT A TIME LIKE THIS? :)

Images via zimbio

I haven't yet slept since yesterday - instead I spent the whole night watching online live men's figure skating Olympics competition. It's incredible! Figure skating has been my favourite sport since I was a child (but to my shame I'm a better skier than skater). Isn't it the most beautiful, but also emotional and even dramatic sport? Totally worth spending a sleepless night ;) And I don't even feel tired. Lysacek's performance has been so impeccable and powerful! And Plushenko... well, he will always remain the figure skating genius - the one and only in his time.

Is anyone else also watching? :)

WINTERDREAM

Images by Olga

skating, baltic sea, birds

Some images taken over the weekend.. Knees still hurt after falling down (but totally worth it). It seems from the images we here live in Antarctica. That is not so, still I very much pity the birds in the frozen sea - very hard time for them this winter.

Almost Weekend

It's been a busy week for me with lots and lots of work, even more snow (with digging out the car every morning!), a little bit of sun, lots of teas with lemon and honey (and candles), taking care of the sick (get better, Susu!), cosy movie evenings at home, a night out with colleagues & friends, sports, shopping, ..., ... Now I need a good loooong night sleep...

Have a good weekend!


Image by Arek


Image by Arek


Image by Arek

Wintersweet

Image by Olga

While I'm waiting for all my photos to be sent back to me (they were successfully recovered - yay! - but the hard drive had to be sent to Warsaw for that) here are some from the last year's winter trip to Brussels I have got back from my Dad when I was at home - he tends to collect the photos from my trips.

I thought these are very winter-like and very sweet (literally so!).


Image by Olga

Please

Image by Haeshu

Dreamy Snowy Blue(s)

And so today's winter morning gradually turned into an even more magic snowy night...


Image by Arek


Image by Arek

Winter Light From My Window

Today when I woke up I was mesmerized by what I saw from my window... I felt like I found myself in a winter fairy tale. It was foggy last night which is why every twig of the tree got glittery icy white and all the trees look magic. Now the sky is not blue anymore and its getting foggy again - it is white and very calm all around. I think this winter is very special around here - a beautiful snowy kingdom. What is your winter like? I hope you are enjoying your weekend!


Image by Olga


Image by Olga


Image by Olga


Image by Olga