A Trip to the Mountains

We had a great time this Saturday!

Last week I got to remembering the many endless summers I spent with my grandma and grandpa at their gorgeous little house high up in the mountains. But when Gran passed away in 1997, the house was left to my aunt, who doesn’t have time to take care of it, and so in 12 years no soul has gone there. Consequently, the yard is now so overgrown with grass and shrubbery that you can’t even see the house from the street.

I thought that maybe it would be a great little adventure if I and Mr. G&C took the train and hiked all the way up there to go visit – not that I would be able to enter, but I just wanted to ‘scratch’ my emotional itch.

So, we took off and got on the train at 7 a.m. for an hour-long ride. Needless to say, I had forgotten how gorgeous the place is:

View of the mountains as you get off the train

The river

It isn’t very clear from the picture above, but there’s a large monument at the top of the cliffs, dedicated to all who died in the September Uprising. Here’s a close-up as viewed from the bottom:

We decided to walk along the road up the mountain to the village, about 6 miles from the train station. Thankfully, it was still early in the morning and the sun wasn’t too hot, but by the time we hiked up there it had gotten very very ‘warm’. Took us about 2 hours, and a lot of panting, but the scenery was gorgeous:

And the very sweaty own selves!

Once we finally made it to the village, I was overwhelmed by an emotional wave. Familiar sights and places brought memories of my dear Gran and all the months we spent there, tending the vegetable garden all summer long. Then we walked to the house, and this is all you can see:

It’s so overgrown that even peeking through the gate I couldn’t see anything but greens. The house that I so miss was barred from my sight.

A very old house in the center of the village

We had lunch and headed back down. This time however, we took the hiking trail.

After about an hour and a half hike down, we came out on the top of the cliffs. Remember where the monument was? That’s the view as you’re looking down this time:

The town and the train station, looked from the top of the cliffs.

After another 2 hour hike down. we made it to the bottom again. We sat and had a late lunch at the restaurant near the waterfall and then headed to the train station. We were so tired by that time that I actually took a 45-minute nap while waiting for the train.

When we got home at 6 p.m. we spent a couple of hours relaxing and went to bed at 8. Yes, that’s right, at 8! I know I slept like a rock, but it felt so good. I am very happy we went, and we might do it again next Saturday.

So Happy To Be Blogging!

Sweet, sweet Rose @ Victoria Rose Paper Craft has given me a second award, and has also made me feel so happy to be blogging!

I am so thrilled and excited to know that my blog makes someone out there smile. Because in essence, a blog is very ‘selfish’ – it’s all about me, me, and oh, me and what I did today! It warms my heart to know that this ‘selfish’ island in the Internet ocean makes a person (or many!) happy. And it reminds me why I started a blog in the first place – to trace my baby steps towards a more crafty self and to keep track of my every-day doings and gardening progress. Of course, the blog itself moves out of track from its original intent every once in a while, but that’s the beauty of it! So, thank you so much, dear Rose!

Passing it on to 6 other people that make me smile every day!

1. Kennesha @ Me & My House

2. Design it Chic

3. Melanie @ The Old White Cottage

4. Kate @ Centsational Girl

5. Tim @ A Writer's Haven (hubby’s blog, because the way he sometimes describes our lives makes me giggle)

6. Steph @ Painted Shed

Very difficult choice – every single one of your blogs brings a smile to my face. I love you all – you make this blog-thing meaningful!

A Junk Party!

Yes, that’s right! Sweet Kennesha @ Me & My House is hosting a Junk Party!

Hop on over and pay her a visit! She’s got some lovely lovely transformations, and the ladies that have posted have some sweet ‘junk’!

Me? I’m going with my own little piece of junk which you’ve already read about, but since I was about to throw it out I think it qualifies, hah!

 

So, join us for a fun little party!

Six Things I Love

I was tagged by Design it Chic a few days ago, but with projects and one last final coming up, hadn’t had the time to play along. Today, however, I have plenty of it, so here comes the six things I love!

Rules of the game:

• List six unimportant things that make you happy;
• Mention and link to the person who tagged you;
• Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along , and comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. A cup of fresh home-made coffee early in the morning (paradox, since I don’t like getting up early on my days off – but I still love the whole combination!). This makes me really, really happy, knowing I have the whole day in front of me, and celebrating that fact with a delicious cup of coffee. Yum

2. Blooming flowers – no matter where, no matter when. Blooming flowers always make me so happy I can totally forget all my other thoughts.

3. Crafting – of all kinds, that is. I love being able to take aside a few hours of the day and fully indulge myself. There is nothing quite as spectacular to me as creating things.

4. Chocolate. ‘Nuff said!

5. The sea. I simply love going to the seaside – I adore the smell of the sea, the cry of the seagulls and the view of ships in the distance. I love to see the waves, and laugh at the ducks that swim above and the way they look. I imagine being a pirate sailor thousand of years ago…

6. A good book. Trivial, I know, but oh the way a good book can suck me in! I am capable of not leaving the bedroom when such a book finds its way to my hands. Utter bliss! Especially when combined with the previous five!

And here’s who’s tagged:

Kennesha @ Me & My House

Rose @ Victoria Rose Paper Craft

Karen @ Musings of a (mostly) Self-taught Knitter

Kim @ Heart In The Country

Melanie @ The Old White Cottage

Tim (hubby) @ A Writer's Haven

Now it’s your turn to share!

[Click on images to go to source]

My Very First Blog Award!

I am very excited to say that lovely Rose @ Victoria Rose Paper Craft awarded me with my very first blog award!

I am so happy I can’t express it in mere words, because I feel like I have accomplished something. I only started this blog in February and I am extremely glad that there are people out there in the world who find my random blurbs useful and interesting. I can only hope I continue to keep you all interested *wink wink*!

Now, as per the rules of nomination, there are several things that need to be done:

1). Add logo to your blog – done.

2). Link to the person you received the award from – done.

3). Nominate 7 or more of the lovely ladies whose blogs you love:

Here they come!

Kasey @ Lola B's

Karen @ Musings of a (mostly) self-taught knitter

Seleta @ Simply Seleta

Melanie @ The Old White Cottage

Kennesha @ Me & My House

Design It Chic

Centsational Girl

Kim @ Heart In The Country

4). Finally, leave comments on those blogs to let them know you have given them an award – done!

Now I go off to relax and maybe get some studying done today. Hope you all have a great weekend!

My Knees Are Shakin’

Three earthquakes in less than 4 hours in more than enough for me, thank you very much.

I was quietly sitting at my desk today at around 7:20 p.m. when all of a sudden everything started shaking around me. I looked at Tim, with my eyes (and his) as big as saucers, and felt my knees shake. Panic was written on both our faces, but because it lasted only about 5 seconds, we continued doing what we were doing. But 5 minutes later I about peed myself again. Another one, at which point I put my shoes on, grabbed my cell, and out the door we went… 6 stories down… in my nightie.

Now, it wouldn’t be so bad if we lived in a house. But when you live 6 stories off the ground, things change a little – none of that stand-under-the-door-frame mumbo-jumbo would work, because if the building decides to come down, you go with it. Damn scary, I tell ya! I couldn’t even walk down the stairs properly because my legs felt like they were not mine.

But, everybody seemed calm and we went back upstairs. I checked the news, the earthquake epicenter was about 100 miles south-west from Sofia at the Macedonian-Greek-Bulgarian border, with magnitude of about 5.0 on the Richter scale , so reason to panic (I send my prayers to those people who live near that area).

At 10:37 p.m., however, we go again! That one was short and not so strong, but oh my, my nerves had already flared up. Out the door we went again.

We haven’t felt anything since that last one (other than the fact I keep thinking everything is shaking). News reported it’s been over 100 micro-earthquakes since the first one we felt, and that there’s been seismic activity in the area since yesterday. Oh, and that we can expect this to continue for the next couple of weeks. Hello? Are you serious? I have a feeling I will die of heart-attack any time soon.

It’s time for me to go to bed, but oh my, how I am so afraid to do so. It’s all dark and creepy. But oh well, we have to sleep, don’t we? I seriously think it’s nothing to be afraid of, but my heart skips a beat when I even think about it, and leaps from my chest when the ‘quakes actually happens.

But to make this post a wee bit more cheerful, here’s a few photos to make me (and hopefully, you) feel better!

Here’s hoping for a tremorless night.

[Click on images for sources.]

Kitty Time

Meet the Guard Cat, Hope.

She’s a 6 year-old mix that Tim bought for me for 10 buck from the pet store. I have to say, that was the best 10 bucks ever spent! She’s warmed my heart for almost 6 years now, and I hope she keeps doing that for many more to come.

She’s very easily frightened. If the doorbell rings, she’s off to hide in my closet for the next hour, looking all petrified. My grandma tells me funny stories (when we go on vacation, my Granny comes over to feed Hope), namely, she comes in, there is no cat to be seen, but there’s no food either! My grandma calls Hope the Ghost kitty.

She must have some black-furred ancestors, because she has black freckles on her nose, gums, butt (yes, that’s right), a couple of black whiskers, and maybe 10 black hairs total on her tummy.

She’s also a very playful kitty! She loves to hide under the couch and wait for someone (especially Tim) to go to the bathroom so she can attack your feet. Then she waits for you to make a funny face and goes to hide, waiting to attack again. She pats your legs gently, and runs off again. She also loves pens, coins, and one particular stuffed toy I received a few weeks ago.

When she’s cuddly she likes to get in your lap, drape herself over your arm and purr. Oh, and her nose drips! Yes, her nose gets all wet and starts dripping on your arm. She also likes to bury her head in your elbow.

Custom is when I snuggle in bed at night to read, Hope comes over and plops herself on my chest, purring. She doesn’t move until I go to turn the light off, at which point she re-positions herself on my feet.

She also has a fat tummy, as is evident by the above picture (that’s her back paw hidden under all that).

I love my kitty.

One Final Down The Road…

 

… and I feel content! Accounting is over with, and I can’t be happier! See, it could be fun, if you get it, but I can’t say it’s my favorite subject. Now, next week is going to be the tough one, so much information to know that my head starts spinning just thinking about it.

Dessy and I decided to go to the University where we’re planning on taking our Landscape Architecture degrees. I called in advance, they told me they were open until 4:30 p.m. so after my final we hopped in her car and drove all the way out there. Except, we didn’t know there are 3 different universities all in one stretch, so we walked in the 2 wrong ones (thank you, old communist regime, for not putting any signs, anywhere) before we made it to ours… at 4:33 p.m. Well, suffice to say the Dean himself looked at us in such surprise and told us to come back the next day, because the secretaries had left a minute ago. What a waste of gas.

By now you’re probably wondering why we don’t just call instead of going in. Well, there’s an unwritten rule in Bulgaria that states that you get half-a**ed information over the phone, and only quarter-so when you go in person. I’ll take my chances.

On the plus side, we now know exactly where the University is, so next time we can walk straight in, with no side-trips.

And since I’m in such a scholarly mood, here’s some inspirational pictures. Enjoy!

   

[Images by book/daddy, Liam Quin, FreshHome, Renovation Design Group, oliveaux, Design Wonderland]

Back to blogland

It’s been more than a week since I last posted, but I’ve had a hard time finding my blog mojo lately. I’ve had so many things to do this past week, and with finals knocking on my door it’s been a little too difficult to concentrate.

However, I worked on several projects this past week and have some other ones in my mind, so I decided it was high time I came back to blogland to share!

Sadly, I forgot to take “before” pictures of the box I got to hold all my craft materials, but here is is “after” the fact:

The box is made of wood and came ‘as-is’, meaning that it was what I call ‘raw’ – just the woodsy color, and that’s it. I decided to experiment, plus I wanted something different, so I got tubes of white and cream acrylic paint, some crackle and went to work. Originally I was going to paint the whole box in cream and only the face white, and that’s what we did (Timmy helped), but then I changed my mind. One coat of paint, then one coat of step 1 of the crackle medium, then a coat of contrasting paint and coat of step 2 of the crackle medium, and here’s the result:

I had no idea what it would look like, but it turned out alright! Now all I need to do is distress it and put a light coat of lacquer.

In the mean time, I also worked on some hand-made mother-of-pearl earrings. I even wore them once, and I have to say I am very happy with them. Since then I’ve had a ton of jewelry ideas!

On the plus side, my plants are finally getting full sun and have started to develop really well. My petunias are still tiny, but have a number of leaves, and I worry they won’t bloom any time soon, considering I see full-grown and blooming petunias at the flower stands all over town. I am actually planning on going to the farmer’s market some time this week to buy a few more planters and a few petunias and forget-me-not’s, because mine are not enough to do what I want. Something like that, maybe:

Speaking of which, I haven’t told you the most important news! I am planning on enrolling to another university next semester to get a bachelor in Landscaping! That will give me two bachelor degrees, and Landscaping combined with Business Administration will give me the opportunity to open my own company after I graduate. How nice would that be?! My friend Dessy wants to join me, so we’ll both be enrolling. That would give me a chance to work with my favorite plants. I am so excited, even just talking about it. I will make sure to keep you updated on our progress.

My Etsy shop is also in the works, but I can’t give a concrete date yet. But I will keep you posted.

I hope you all had a great week – I know I did!

[Image by AllPosters.com]